Sakura, Pink Haired Princess
by kikyothepriestess05
Summary: Sakura only wants to escape from her princess life, Sasuke is a ninja hunting down a certain someone, but when they meet- he's all Sakura can think about and her dreams come true when she travels with him but things just aren't that simple..conflicts come
1. Meeting Him

Okay, so this is my first fanfic in the Naruto section, caz I usually write for Inuyasha. But here it goes and I hope you all enjoy it and don't forget to review!

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Sakura, Pink-Haired Princess

Chapter 1: Meeting Him

A young teenage girl sat on a bench under a cherry blossom tree, in the back yard of a castle. This was the young princess of Konoha, Sakura. She had white skin with no tan. Her skin was soft and always creamy.

Her hair was pink. It shone in the sun as the wind played with her hair. Under all this hair were her beautiful green eyes. They were like green diamonds.

She was wearing a light blue kimono. It was like an icy color. In her hand she held a cherry blossom. She traced its outline with her fingers when she head someone call her name.

"Sakura. Sakura, there you are."

The pink haired girl looked to see her younger sister, Hinata walking over to her. She was wearing a light green kimono. Even though Hinata and Sakura looked nothing alike, they were twins. Sakura was older by a minute. Sakura took after their mom while Hinata took after their dad. They were both 17 years old.

"Oh Hinata, it's just you. I thought it would another guy wanting to marry me."

"Well…"

"Well what? Don't tell me there is one here!"

"Yes, there is. Mom and Dad sent me to find you."

"Is he cute?"

"Well…umm…."

"Great. Come on, Hinata watch me blow this guy off."

"Of course."

The green eyed princess stood up and began walking toward the castle with her younger twin right behind her. As they entered the castle they began making their away toward the meeting room, when Hinata spoke up.

"Sakura."

"Huh?"

"Why don't you ever give any of these guys a chance?"

"Well, you see some of the guys that have wanted to take my hand in marriage have been cute but how do you know that they aren't after you for your money?"

"Spend sometime with them and then I bet you can tell if they love you or your money more."

"Yeah I guess I could try it."

The raven haired girl smiled. "Good luck sister."

Sakura smiled back as she entered the meeting room.

> > > > > > > > > > 

"What? You didn't even give him a chance!" Hinata asked.

The twins, Sakura and Hinata were sitting outside under the cherry blossom tree, behind the castle.

"Well, he didn't pass test one, at all." Sakura said holding up one finger.

"Test one?"

"Yeah, test one was if he was cute or not and he was anything but cute."

"Oh Sakura, you're hopeless."

"What's all the fuss about ladies?" A voice came.

The pink and raven-haired girls looked to see a blonde hair, blue-eyed boy coming over to them. Hinata blushed as he came closer.

"Naruto…" Hinata said dreamingly.

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh its you, Naruto."

Naruto was the King's right hand man. He was the protector of the castle. In other words he was a body guard for Sakura and Hinata.

"Hey girls so like I said before what's all the fuss about?" Naruto said smiling.

"Well Sakura never gives any guy a chance. At this rate she will never get married." Hinata said.

"What if I don't wanna get married?" Sakura asked.

"Well, why not get married?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know. I just don't want to get married." Sakura said.

"Trust me, Sakura you will change your mind later on." Naruto assured her.

"What about you, Naruto? Why aren't you married yet? Eh?" Sakura asked.

"Well…umm…I have a good idea who I will ask but I'm not ready to get married yet." The blonde-haired boy said blushing.

"I know who want to marry. Its Hinata isn't it?" Sakura said smiling.

Hinata and Naruto blushed. "Shut up, Sakura!"

> > > > > > > > > > 

Naruto had to go back to work, making sure no intruders were around the castle. While the two princesses were in Sakura's room.

"Sakura I can't believe you are doing this." Hinata said.

"Why? It's not the first crazy thing I've done."

"But this time you are dressing up like an ordinary person and going into town to find a guy that likes you for you and not for your money."

"Exactly, if they don't recognize me then they won't think I am rich so guys won't be nice to me because I am a princess. It's a great plan!"

"Oh god…."

Sakura walked through Konoha studying every person around her. (She is wearing what she usually wears in the series. And since she hardly ever comes out of the castle the people in town don't really know what she looks like, so they don't know she is a princess.)

As she took in her surroundings, she felt normal for once. _Wow, this is what its like to be normal, its kinda cool I mean no people watching ever single thing you do. It's like a dream come true. Now to find a cute guy. I will prove to everyone that I can get married and I can do it on my own! _Sakura thought.

While Sakura was lost in thought she bumped into someone, making her stumble backward a few steps. She immediately recovered and looked to see who she bumped into.

"Oh sorry I didn't mean to bump into…" The pink haired girl was speechless when she saw this person's face. He was a few inches taller than her, with jet black hair and deep black eyes. His face was emotionless. _Oh my god he's sooooooooooooooo handsome. Talk Sakura, talk!_

"Hi……"

"Move, girl"

He began to walk away when Sakura grabbed his arm. "Wait can I at least by you some dinner for umm……bumping into you?"

_What kind of pick up line is that! God Sakura! Focus! _

They boy was about to answer when he saw some of the King's ninjas running down the road toward them. He smirked. "You know that actually sounds nice."

He reached back and grabbed her hand and led her into a alley out of the ninjas' sight.

As they reached the end of the alley, the green eyed girl spoke. "Ummm…why are we in this alley?"

"Shh!" The raven-haired boy quickly covered her mouth. Sakura looked toward the other end of the alley to see her father's ninjas scouting the area for something or….someone.

As soon as they passed by the alley, the pink haired girl said, "Is it me or are you hiding from them?"

He didn't answer. "Answer me!"

He just began to walk off, when Sakura decided that she wasn't just about to give up.

"Answer me or I will call those ninjas back here!"

Hearing this he immediately stopped. "Oh so you are hiding from them."

"Yeah. You see I'm a wanted guy."

"You're a killer!"

"No, I don't kill, well unless someone bothers me, but other than that I am just a thief. Happy?"

"A little. I wanna know more about you. You're mysterious."

"….."

Sakura walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "So you still up for dinner?"

He just looked at her with an emotionless face. "What? Is it the pink hair? Because I get that alot."

"I just told you that I'm a thief and you want to have dinner with me?"

"Yeah, And to start things off, I'm Sakura. And you are…"

"Sasuke. And as much as I would love to have dinner with you I can't, I am sort of on the run."

"Too bad. But it was nice meeting you." Sakura smiled.

"….."

"What now?"

"Well it's not every day that you meet someone who is happy to meet a thief and not turn him in."

"Well I just don't get out much and besides who would turn someone as cute as you?" Sakura said, pinching his cheeks with a teasing smile on.

"Sorry to break your heart but I have to go." He said pushing her hand away.

Without another word, he was gone, but Sakura for some reason felt a bit sad that he was gone. "Just you wait Sasuke….we'll met again. I just know it."

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Okay so this chappie wasn't so great but the next ones will be soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

much better, trust me. Well plz review!

kikyothepriestess05


	2. The Power of Fate

Okay sorry it took so long to update. I have just been busy with school, just like all other teenager. So enough of me talking, on with the story I hope you guys and girls enjoy!

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Sakura, Pink-Haired Princess

Chapter 2: The Power of Fate

"Oh, Hinata you should have seen him! He was so handsome! Oh, I think I'm in love!" Sakura said cheerfully under the cherry blossom tree with her sister.

"Sister, you hardly know the guy. How can you tell if you love him already? Just so you know looks aren't everything." The raven-haired teen explained.

"I just have this feeling. I have never had it toward another guy before. And he talked to me because of me and not for my money! He's like a dream come true!"

"He sounds like a nice guy but are you sure you aren't rushing into things? And besides how do you know you will ever see him again. I mean he could be on his way to another city by now."

"No, we will met again I just know it. Its fate that me and him will be together and there's no stopping fate!"

"Sounds more like a fairy tale to me."

Hearing this, the older teen stood up. "What? How could you say that? This is anything but a fairy tale, this is reality. Just you wait! I will see him again!"

"I'm not saying it's impossible for you two to meet again. Its just unlikely. But as you talk I guess you will meet him again so I am looking forward to meeting him."

The pink-haired princess smiled. "I knew you would agree with me sooner or later, sis."

The twins walked inside the castle because it was getting dark outside. Sakura said goodnight to her sister and went to her room.

> > > > > > > > > 

_In Sakura's Room……._

Sakura changed into some more comfortable clothes to sleep in. She wasn't very tired, so she made her way across her to her window. There she stared out onto the city below the castle, it was lithe up with lights.

"Oh Sasuke…….Where are you?"

> > > > > > > > > 

_Later that night………_

It was about 2:00-3:00 in the morning. Sakura had woken up and couldn't go back to sleep. Her mind kept going to Sasuke.

"What's happening to me? I have never felt this way about a boy before. I must see him again. Even if I have to hunt him down!"

Sakura sprung out of her bed to her feet but before she took another step……

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Sakura froze. "Oh my god. Who was that? It sounded like one of the maids. But why did they scream?"

The young teen's head was spinning with fear and confusion. She had no idea what to do. Before she thought about anything else, she ran out of the room and ran down the hallway toward the scream.

'_What the hell am I doing? Running down the halls like this! I could run into to something bad or someone….like a killer! Oh my god I need to find a bodyguard because I can't fight at all! Damn where's Naruto when you need him?'_

As Sakura ran down the halls further she saw a maid running toward her in a fast pace. She was a brown-haired girl and held a very worried expression on her face.

"Lady Sakura! Lady Sakura! You must come with me, hurry!" The maid said grabbing Sakura's arm.

"What's going on?"

"A man…there's a man in the castle. He's a thief! I ran because I feared he would kill me if he caught me. Lady Sakura you must come with me, the way you are running is right toward him. He will either kill you or kidnap you."

The maid began pulling Sakura behind her. Only one thing ran through Sakura's mind.

_Flashback > > > > > > _

"_Shh!" The raven-haired boy quickly covered her mouth. Sakura looked toward the other end of the alley to see her father's ninjas scouting the area for something or….someone._

_As soon as they passed by the alley, the pink- haired girl said, "Is it me or are you hiding from them?"_

_He didn't answer. "Answer me!"_

_He just began to walk off, when Sakura decided that she wasn't just about to give up._

"_Answer me or I will call those ninjas back here!"_

_Hearing this he immediately stopped. "Oh so you are hiding from them."_

"_Yeah. You see I'm a wanted guy."_

"_You're a killer?"_

"_No, I don't kill, well unless someone bothers me, but other than that I am just a thief. Happy?"_

_End of Flashback > > > > > _

"A Thief...could it be…..Sasuke. Well only way to find out."

Sakura pulled her arm back from the maid and began running back down the hall toward the thief, the maid had told her about.

"Lady Sakura! He will kill you! What are you doing?" The maid ran after her, but she soon found out that she couldn't keep up with the princess and turned back.

The pink-haired girl kept running down the hallway until she saw maids and butlers running from the hallway to the left of her. She dodged all the screaming people and went down the hall the people had come from, knowing that whatever it was they were running from was down there.

The princess ran a little ways until she saw a dark figure in the shadows. She couldn't make out their face so she kept her distance. All she could tell was that the person was wounded a bit because he or she was limping a bit.

"Who are you?" The green-eyed girl asked.

"…………"

"Answer me!"

"S-Sakura?"

She knew that voice. She smiled. Fate was finally working its powers.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

"Yes." Sasuke the raven-haired boy stepped out of the shadows toward Sakura. Sakura noticed that his leg was bleeding badly.

"Sasuke! Your leg!"

"Don't worry about it. What are you doing here?"

"I will tell you later. I have to bandage up that wound."

Just as Sakura was about to help him, the two began to hear voices in the distance. The voices were getting closer. Sakura didn't want Sasuke to get caught even if he was a thief. She had to get him away. There was no way he could fight with a wound on his leg.

"Sasuke, come with me. You have to get out of here!"

"No, just go on. I can handle myself."

Just as she was about to go over to him, castle guards came around the corner. Once they saw Sakura, they took action.

"Lady Sakura, get down!"

The green-eyed girl turned to stop them, not wanting Sasuke hurt.

"No wait! You don't-"

Before she could say another word, one of the guards had grabbed her and pushed her against the wall leaving Sasuke as an open target for the rest of the castle guards.

"Open Fire!"

The castle guards fired smoke bombs at him. As the bombs landed next to him, they released gases knocking Sasuke out in an instant.

Sakura watched in horror. What could she do?

"Sasuke!" She yelled.

> > > > > > > > > 

_A little while later…… _

The guards had taken Sasuke away to the prison, while all the guards talked to Sakura's father and mother about what was to become of Sasuke. Weather he should be killed now or weather he should spent the rest of his life in prison or other death related things.

Sakura sat in her room. While the guards were talking to her parents, she wasn't able to talk with them, so here she sat almost in tears because she feared for Sasuke.

There was a knock at her door.

"Who is it?" The princess asked.

"It's Hinata. Sister may I come in?"

"Yes, but only you."

The younger twin opened the door and entered. She soon made her way over to her sister. Seeing the sad look on her sister's face caused her to speak.

"Sakura, what's the matter? Did that thief hurt you? Because I heard he was about to harm you when the guards found you."

"He wasn't going to harm me….."

"I'm glad. So sister, if not that, then why so gloomy?"

"I didn't want the guards to take him away……"

"Take who away? The thief?"

"Yes…him….."

"Why? Am I missing something? I mean he did just try to rob us so why would you care if he was taken away?"

"Hinata, remember when I told you I would met that boy again?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this-"

"Well I did meet him."

The younger girl's eyes widened. "S-Sakura? You can't be serious. You're telling me that, that thief was the boy you met in Kohana?"

"Yes…….his name is Sasuke."

"Did you know he was a thief?"

"Yes, he told me…..but I didn't care because…..I liked the feeling of being around him….and if dad and mom decide to kill him…..I don't know what I will do…."

"Sakura….Don't worry I am sure mom and dad will let him off easy because he didn't harm anyone or steal anything as of yet."

"I hope so……I sure hope so, Hinata."

The raven-haired twin gave her sister a loving hug. "He will be okay, Sakura…..its fate."

"Only things like that happen in fairy tales."

"Not always, in our world they are called miracles."

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 

Well I hope you enjoyed it because I worked hard on it. I hope it wasn't too original. Well review and tell me what you thought!

Love ya!

kikyothepriestess05


	3. Jail Break

Okay I am back with the third chappie. Thanks for all the reviews. I really enjoyed them. Just so, you know I try to update every month. Therefore, you know when to start to expect them. Well anyway, enough of me talking.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Jail Break

It was about a day after Sasuke had been captured. It had been finally decided that he would spend the rest of his life in the castle jail. Sakura however had other ideas. Her mind worked in clever ways. Sure she may seem like a dingy girl at first but when It comes to something like this, she becomes a master mind as of how to get someone she cares about out of danger.

She had been up planning, ever since he was taken away she had put her mind to work. She had several ideas but now she had finally picked one. Now all she had to do was get her twin to help her out.

** xXx**

_In Hinata's room…. _

Hinata couldn't sleep. She keep on thinking about her sister, Sakura. She felt really sorry for her. The one guy she ever really had feelings for was locked up in jail for the rest of his life.

'_Poor Sakura, being separated from him like that…..'_

While Hinata was lost in thought, her door opened. The dark-haired teen turned her gaze toward the opened door, to see her twin standing in the doorway.

Hinata glanced at her clock to see that it was 3:30 a.m. "Sister, why are you up at 3:30?"

Sakura came in and sat at the foot of her sister's bed. Surprisingly the pink-haired girl didn't seem very sad, through the dark Hinata could make out that Sakura was smiling.

"Are you smiling?" Hinata asked.

"Maybe. And by the way dearest sister-"

"What do you want?"

"A little help."

"Help with what? Rule breaking?"

"No, no. It's nothing like that. It's anything but rule breaking."

** xXx**

_5 minutes later…. _

"No, no. It's nothing like that. It's anything but rule breaking." Hinata said mocking her sister.

"Well your part isn't. As for my part….yeah."

Sakura and Hinata were in the basement of the castle aka the dungeon.

"What do you mean my part isn't rule breaking? I am about to cause a distraction so you can free a thief."

"Please Hinata help me."

"Fine."

"Now I am going to run around to the back of the dungeon while you distract them with some acting while I free him. Got it?"

"Right. Now go."

The green-eyed girl smiled and took off down another hallway. She moved swiftly making her way to the back. She hid behind a wall as she waited for Hinata to do her stunt.

She heard a loud thump from Hinata's direction acting like she had fallen or something. "Ahh! My leg!" The raven-haired princess yelled.

Immediately the guards ran over toward the noise knowing that it was the princess. Sakura made her was toward the cells and using her trusty eyesight, she spotted Sasuke in his cell. She then pulled out the gold platted key she had stolen from her father's room, to unlock the thief.

Sasuke, who had heard her coming, stared at her. Wondering what she was doing. He saw her take out a key and shove it in the key hole to his cell, she then opened it and held out her hand to him.

"Come on Sasuke!"

"Wha-"

"Come!" The young princess grabbed his hand and took off running with him behind her.

** xXx**

_Outside the castle…._

The two had been running for about 10 minutes non-stop. By now, the guards had realized that Sasuke had escaped so now the search was on.

The pink princess did all she could for him but now her body just couldn't take all the running. Sakura fell over, panting. Sasuke, who was used to all the running, turned back and kneeled beside her.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah…..yeah…Listen, you……must go. It's…it's…..not safe…..here…." She said trying to get her breathe back.

"What about you?"

"Listen…they don't know……how you…..got out…so I'll….be fine…"

Sasuke nodded. The young thief stood up to take his leave when she spoke.

"Just promise me this….you'll come back….for me…."

"………"

Sakura gaining back her breath continued. "I hate this life of being a princess. I have so many limits…I just wanna be free. I want you to help me leave this place. So promise me you will come back……"

Sasuke was taken back at her request but then smirked. "You're determined."

"Fine. I will come back." He said turning his back to her.

"Wait. How will I be sure that you are really coming back and telling the truth?"

Without exchanging another word. The raven-haired thief unbuckled a necklace that rested around his neck. He halfway turned around and tossed it in the pink girl's direction.

"What's this?" The young girl looked at the necklace she had received. It had a sliver chain, shining as of it had never gotten dirty before. On the end of the chain was a sliver ring with a sapphire gem on the top of it. It was a beautiful ring.

"You must really take care of this. Its doesn't have so much of a mark on it. It most be very valuable to you." The princess said.

"It's the most precious thing to me. I cannot tell you as of why it is precious to me but I am leaving it with you. Take care of it because I will want that back. I will be coming back for it. In addition, when I come back for it, I will come for you. So be ready. A couple of weeks will be the time of my return."

And just like that he was gone. The young thief was gone. Sakura again looked at the necklace.

"Princess! Princess!" Castle guards were making there ways over to her. Without anther thought, she put the necklace around her neck and hid it under her hair while the rest was in her kimono. She stood up and turned toward the guards.

"Sakura, did he hurt you? I saw him over here." A voice came. Before she could respond, a blonde haired, blue-eyed boy popped up. It was Naruto.

"No Naruto. I'm fine."

"Good, but what are you doing out here?" The blonde-haired boy asked.

"I was running from him. He was trying to take me as a hostage. But you guys came and scared him away." The pink-haired princess lied.

"I thought he was up to no good. Well anyway come on inside Sakura."

"Of course, Naruto."

** xXx**

_Inside the castle (Sakura's room)……. _

Things had calmed down. None of the guards had found out how _he _escaped. Her dark haired twin had done better than she had expected. She thanked her for that. As long as _he _was safe she was happy.

The cheerful female didn't know why she liked him so much. Maybe it was because he was handsome. Or was it because he actually talked to her and didn't treat her like an average princess. Or maybe because he might be the only person that could take her away from this princess life.

Ah. To get away from the princess life would be a dream come true. She wanted to learn how to fight and travel the countryside without royal guards watching every move she made.

To be free was her life long dream. As she stood outside on her balcony her fingers traced down to the necklace, the boy she cared for so much, Sasuke had given her. Her hand felt the well made sliver platted chain. At the end of the chain was _the _ring.

"_It's the most precious thing to me. I cannot tell you as of why it is precious to me but I am leaving it with you. Take care of it because I will want that back. I will be coming back for it. In addition, when I come back for it, I will come for you. So be ready. A couple of weeks will be the time of my return." _

She remembered what Sasuke had said. She once again grabbed the ring with her hand and brought it up to her face to exam it. It was one of the prettiest rings she had ever saw. The sapphire gem on the top of the ring is what caught her eyes the most.

"I wish my eyes were that color….I wonder why you are so precious to Sasuke."

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Well there you have it. The third chappie. As you have noticed now I am using "X's" instead of that other thing I was using. Well anyway you can only guess what happens in the next chapter. Well this time I won't take so long to update. I promise.

Well you all have a month until I update again for ya. So take care and review people review! The more reviews I get the faster I will update. So I wanna see some reviews!

Love ya!

kikyothepriestess05


	4. Sakura’s Farewell

**Okay I want to thank all those that reviewed. I really love yall! Well anyway, here we go again with another chapter of everyone's favorite story! Well enjoy! **

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Chapter 4: Sakura's Farewell

It had been about a couple of weeks since the young pink-haired princess named Sakura had seen the troublesome thief, Sasuke.

Sakura stood outside on her balcony looking up to the moon. Around her neck hung the necklace Sasuke had given her. The young woman held the ring, at the bottom of the necklace, in her hand.

She ended up telling her twin, Hinata everything that happened. After she had told her, she then told Naruto but she made them both promise not to ever tell anyone about her and Sasuke.

Hinata was sad because she didn't want her only sister to leave all of a sudden. Naruto, the blonde haired boy was the same way. While Sakura was lost in thought, she didn't notice the door to her room open and close.

"Hey Sakura."

Sakura quickly turned her head to see a familiar blonde haired boy.

"Oh. Hey Naruto. What are you doing here?"

"Just came to check on you. Any sign of your lover boy?"

"He's not my lover. I am just his friend and with his help he's gonna get me outer here."

"Yeah….."

"Oh just shut up and go flirt with Hinata."

"Flirt? I don't flirt with Hinata."

"Yeah right. I know you like her."

"I like her as a friend."

"No. You see me as a sister or friend, but you see Hinata as a girl friend. Admit it!"

"Well maybe I sorta do…but just don't tell her alright!"

Sakura let out a small laugh. "Point one for Sakura! Zero for Naruto!"

"Well if he does show up soon, you better tell me and Hinata you're leaving, alright?"

"Of course."

He nodded and walked out and shut the door behind him.

**xXx **

_With Hinata… _

The young princess sat in her room looking out her window. She wasn't so sure if she wanted her sister to leave so soon. She and Sakura had never been separated before. Hinata recalled all the fun times they had had together and felt sad because all that might end.

The white-eyed princess heard someone knock on her door. She got to her feet, walked to the door, and opened it.

"Hey Hinata." Naruto said smiling.

Hinata smiled weakly. "Hi. Come on in."

She walked back to the window she was looking out of early, with Naruto right behind her. He could tell something was wrong with her.

"What's wrong Hinata?"

"It's…Sakura."

"Oh. You don't want her leaving either do you?"

The raven-haired girl just nodded.

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel about this? I'm sure Sakura wouldn't leave if you didn't want her too."

"No…I couldn't. She's truly happy with this boy. I couldn't take my sister's happiness away form her."

"Listen, I don't think this will be the last time you see her. I'm sure she will come back and visit every occasionally. Besides, I promise you, that I'll never leave you. Believe it."

"Thank you, Naruto."

The blue-eyed boy pulled Hinata into a hug. Hinata blushed, not believing what was happening. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"And there's a bright side to this. You and I will get a lot of time alone." Naruto said.

Hinata smiled weakly. "Yeah."

**xXx **

_With Sakura… _

Sakura walked outside, in the back of the castle. She went and sat under her favorite cherry blossom tree. She rested her head against the truck and watched the sky. The stars seemed to be brighter than usual. Sakura was kinda worried about leaving with Sasuke.

_I'm not sure if I can trust Sasuke…I mean sure we have met a couple of times and all but out there in the wilderness…will he protect me or just let me defend myself? _

**_What are you saying? Sasuke would protect you. I mean after all he wouldn't be out there without our help. Besides he's a thief and not a murder. In addition, letting you defend for yourself and getting hurt badly and dieing would be like murder._**

_I just hope so…..I mean I really like him. He's just different from any other guy I ever met. _

**_Follow your heart. Well your one wish is to get away from here and he's here to get us out of this place….he could also teach us how to fight. _**

_To fight? Well that would be nice. All right, I'll go with him when he comes for me._

_**Good…you'll thank me later!**_

_I hope so. _

While the young princess was lost in thought, a pair of eyes were watching her calm and still form.

These eyes belonged to Sasuke Uchiha. _'There she is. Wow this is the first time I have seen her without her mouth open, talking. She seems to be lost in thought…well its now or never…..I don't know if this is such a great idea or not. I mean I doubt she can fight so I'll have to be her bodyguard. Well she did help me back there…its only fair that I should do this for her…..' _

The young thief walked out of his hiding place, which was behind a bush and made his way over to the pink-haired girl. While she was still thinking, the young Uchiha put a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura jumped and was about to let out an ear shattering scream when Sasuke put his hand over her mouth. He immediately moved where she could see his face and spoke.

"Shhh! It's me."

As he removed his hand from her mouth, the green-eyed girl smiled cheerfully. She looked him over and saw that he was the same as before. _'Yes, he's still the handsome Sasuke as before!'_

"Sasuke! I knew you would come back for me."

The young girl stood up to face him and hugged him tightly. She smiled brightly, while he struggled under her grip.

"Be quiet! And hurry up and get your stuff ready. I am leaving in exactly 10 minutes with or without you."

Hearing that, Sakura dashed inside and ran to her room. Sasuke remained outside.

**xXx **

_With Naruto and Hinata… _

Naruto and Hinata were talking when they heard Sakura talking to someone outside. Hinata's room was overlooking the castle yard, where Sakura's favorite cherry blossom tree was, so it was easy to hear her talking outside especially with the window open.

Naruto looked out the window to see Sasuke and Sakura standing outside. He looked back at Hinata and motioned for Hinata to come to the window. When she did, she looked out and saw Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura just then ran inside the castle for some reason leaving Sasuke in the yard.

"That's him, the guy that's gonna take Sakura away!"

"It is? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Sasuke hearing people talking looked up to see Naruto and Hinata watching him. Before the dark-haired teen could say anything, Naruto spoke.

"Are you Sasuke? The one that's gonna take Sakura away?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes. But anyway I have a few things to say to you."

The thief just looked at him. Hinata just watched as the two glared at each other. The young female spoke.

"Where did my sister, Sakura, go?"

_Sister? Well I never knew Sakura had a sister. Funny they don't really look alike either. Well maybe this girl takes after there father, because I highly doubt their father has pink hair and Sakura takes after their mom. _Sasuke thought.

"She went inside to get her stuff." Sasuke said.

The white-eyed girl nodded her head to him and walked off toward her older sister's room.

"Now that she's gone, I'm not afraid to tell you off. Listen, I don't know what Sakura sees in you, but if she gets hurt out there, I'll kill you. Sakura is one of my best friends and I won't stand to lose her to some thief. So you better protect her, got it?"

"Whatever."

"Are you looking for a fight?"

"No. You're not worth my time."

"Why you, bastard."

"Ass-hole"

"Idiot."

"Brainless."

"Jerk."

"Ass wipe."

**xXx **

_With Sakura……. _

Sakura was just about done packing when, her younger twin came in the door. Sakura looked up to greet her sister.

"Hinata, I'm glad you're here. I really wanted to talk to you before I left."

"I wanted to talk to you too, sister."

Hinata noticed that her sister had changed into some different clothes, other than her kimono. It was a red dress looking thing with long black shorts underneath that stopped a bit above her knee. (What she wears in the Naruto series.)

Sakura closed the small bag she had put her stuff in and put in on her shoulder. (It's that yellow bag she has in the series. She is only seen with it a couple of times but hopefully you guys know what im talking about.)

"Hinata, I'm really sorry that I am leaving you like this. But hey I'll come back every once in a while, hopefully. The princess life, isn't really working for me, that's why I am leaving with Sasuke. I believe I am suited as a ninja. I'll get Sasuke to teach me how to fight and stuff."

"I know. But I want you to have this…" Hinata, the younger one of the two reached down and removed a bracelet from her wrist. She held it up to her sister. "Take this and don't forget about your little sister."

The bracelet was sliver with diamonds placed every half inch from each other. "Oh Hinata, I can't take this. This is your lucky bracelet. I have never seen you without it…"

"No. Please take it."

"Alright." Sakura put Hinata's bracelet on her left wrist and hugged her twin. Sakura had to lean down a bit because Hinata was a mere 5'1, while Sakura was 5'3.

**xXx **

_With Naruto and Sasuke…. _

"Mother fucker." Naruto began.

"Shit face."

"Two-face son of a bitch."

"Three-face son of a bitch"

"Four-face son of a bitch."

"Five-" Sasuke was cut off by Sakura walking outside and saying. "I'm ready."

Sasuke turned to look at the young pink-haired girl. He also noticed that a dark-haired girl, a bit shorter than Sakura was behind her. He remembered that she was the girl that refereed to Sakura as her sister.

"Alright. Let's go." Sasuke said.

"Wait." Hinata said.

The younger sister of Sakura walked up to Sasuke and looked him in the eye. Sasuke noticed that her eyes held what looked like to be sadness.

"Please take care of my sister. My sister is very nice and loyal, but she can be annoying at times but please I beg of you just take care of her."

Sasuke smirked at her saying Sakura could be annoying. "Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Hinata nodded her head and stepped back from him, while Sakura walked to him and smiled. She then noticed Naruto watching them from Hinata's bedroom window. He then jumped down to where everyone was, to stand by Hinata.

Sakura went over, gave Naruto a quick hug, and smiled. "Bye Naruto. I'll miss you and Hinata a lot."

"Just be careful out there, okay?"

"K."

With that, Sakura gave Hinata a hug and went over to Sasuke. She nodded to Sasuke as if telling him to go.

"Get on my back."

Sakura got on his back, piggyback style as he took off with godlike speed, leaving Naruto and Hinata.

A few tears fell from Hinata's face. Naruto wiped away her tears and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her close to him. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. Sure that Sasuke seems to be a jerk, but I have a feeling that not even he would let Sakura get herself killed out there."

"I sure hope so…"

_Sakura, my dear sister, may god be with you and protect you……. _

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx **

**Well there was another chappie and that was pretty long, well compared to the usual ones. Wow, this was 7 pages. The other ones are like 4 to 5 pages. **

**I guess I just really got wrapped up in this one. Well in the next chapter, you start seeing more Sasuke and Sakura togetherness. I hope I put enough of NarHin in this chapter. **

**Well just because Sakura is no longer with them at the castle doesn't mean Naruto and Hinata won't be in here anymore. I will show them in here every now the then. Because on the summay it did say SasSak with a bit of NarHin.**

**And trust me. I am true to my word. Well till next time! **

**kikyothepriestess05**


	5. The Secret of Sasuke’s Ring

**Okay so here we go again kicking off with another chapter. Well sorry it took so long to update, you see I went on vacation for 2 weeks and that slowed me down by a whole lot so forgive me! **

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**Chapter 5: The Secret of Sasuke's Ring **

Sakura walked through a forest following her new found friend, Sasuke. Well at least she hoped he saw her as a friend.

It was night. There was a full moon out and it was kinda chilly too. Sakura keep her eyes on the dark-haired teen ahead of her as if he was her last hope of not getting lost.

Every once in a while he would look back at her to make sure she was still there and didn't wander off.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"I forget to earlier, but here's your necklace back."

The pink-haired girl pulled the necklace off and held it out to the Uchiha. He quickly grabbed it and put it on. He then looked it over to see if it had been damaged.

"Good. It's still how I left it."

"Yeah, I took real good care of it."

He turned around and started to walk, but Sakura spoke again.

"What's it to you?"

"Huh?"

"The ring. Why is it so important to you?"

"……"

"Come on you can tell me. I promise I won't tell."

"Don't worry about it."

He started to walk off again. But this time when his pink-haired friend spoke he kept on walking, instead of stopping.

"I'm just curious!"

Seeing that Sasuke wasn't stopping, the green-eyed girl ran to keep up with him.

"Hey don't leave me like that. Its night and I could easily get lost."

"Don't worry, I knew you were still close by because I could still hear you talking. But then again that's not saying much because someone could probably hear you talking miles away."

"Hey!"

"Well its true."

"Whatever and umm...when do we stop I'm getting tired."

"I guess we could stop here."

"Where's here?"

"Not sure. But we'll find out in the morning."

"But what if there are evil people watching us?"

"Don't worry I would have sensed them, if there was anyone."

"Umm…okay."

Sasuke just sat down beside a tree and leaned against it. Sakura just sighed and sat down pretty close to him. She wasn't going to rest until she knew the secret of that ring Sasuke had.

"So umm….wanna tell me about the ring now?"

"Go to sleep."

"Please."

Sigh. "Fine. My mother gave it to me, before she died."

"Ooooooooh. I'm sorry. Umm…speaking of your family where are they? Like your father, maybe a sibling or two."

"There dead."

"Everyone!"

"Yes, everyone except my brother."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. My brother killed them all. And left me alive."

"Your brother did that? Why?"

"I'm not sure but I don't care. I am going to kill him and that's why I am wandering around. I'm looking for my brother."

"Ohhh."

_Well…I feel so bad for him, maybe I shouldn't have asked. Cuz I no he must feel sad thinking about his family. I still can't believe that all that really happened and all to one person. How does he carry on? Well I guess he is stronger than I thought….. _

**xXx**

_In the morning…. _

Sakura, the pink-haired girl woke up to a bright and sunny day. Luckily she was in the shade of a tree. She looked around she could tell it was about 9:00 a.m. or somewhere around that time.

She noticed that there was life all around her. Flowers of many different colors were scattered around with millions of trees in sight, all green. Birds flew in the sky, while others where sitting on tree limbs.

Sakura stood up to stretch her legs when she realized something was missing.

_Hum,…..Something isn't right. Wait a minute…where's Sasuke! He's gone! Oh, my god what happens if something shows up, I have no way to defend myself. I'm doomed. But where is Sasuke what if he left me because I talked to much….that's likely….very likely. Well just standing here won't fix anything, I have to go out and look for him! _

The young princess took a deep breath and began to walk off, looking for Sasuke. She dodged many tree braches and had to avoid running into bushes, trees, and everything else in the forest, so she had the full work-out session.

She walked around for a while until she started to get tired and hungry.

"I'm so gonna kill Sasuke for this!"

Sakura sat down for a moment. She then just thought of something.

"Oh my god….I'M LOST!"

"Wonderful I was so wrapped up in finding Sasuke that I forgot which way I came! Great Sakura just wonderful!"

The green-eyed girl kicked her self mentally. How stupid could you get, to let yourself get lost so easily. The young female just relaxed and leaned against a tree stump she tired to remember which way she came from.

Before she knew it she knew it a dark figure jumped down from one of the trees. It was a large male around 5'9-5'11 in feet. Just about twice Sakura's size.

"Little girls shouldn't play in a forest." His voice came.

_Oh my god just what I feared, a guy is gonna kill me! What am I gonna do? Oh Sasuke save me! _

"W-What do you w-want?"

He smirked. "Your life."

"W-what!" The scared to death female tried to run as soon as she heard that statement but the man grabbed her hand. He then pulled out something that looked like an axe.

"Well I haven't killed someone lately. And you're a perfect for my next victim."

"AHHHHHH!" Sakura yelled knowing it was the only thing she could do.

The man raised his axe above his head ready to strike. Sakura closed her eyes. She waited for the pain to come, but when it didn't she opened her eyes to see the guy laying on the ground, knocked out.

"What the heck…"

"You alright." A voice came. Sakura turned her head to see Sasuke. Sasuke had taken care of the guy in only seconds, so fast the Sakura didn't even notice any of it. Sasuke was really amazing.

"Sasuke! You came!"

The young female glided over to him and hugged him. Sasuke, who was kinda shocked took a minute to realize what she was doing. After a moment he light hugged her back.

Sakura broke the hug, (never thought that would happen.) She glared at him.

"Where were you!" She asked.

"I was out getting food. You were still fast asleep when I left so I hoped you should have stayed asleep till I got back."

"Well why didn't you leave a note?"

"With what? A leaf?"

"Well you could have tired."

"Well don't blame me about everything! You ran off! In addition, you're lucky I found you in time, but luckily I heard your loud mouth yelling so I ended up saving you. And now all you're doing is blaming the whole thing on me!"

Sakura remained quiet. She didn't realize how mean she had really been. She was very lucky Sasuke found her.

"I'm sorry. I was just so scared because that was the first time I was threatened. I'm not brave at all so it scared the hell out of me."

"Well I guess I could have been nicer and not yelled. Listen I'm just used to traveling alone and having a girl following me around is new. I'm not used to saving someone daily and with you that twill probably be the case."

"Yeah. Speaking of fighting. Wanna teach me how?"

"Well I guess so. That way I won't have to protect you 24/7. Come on lets go eat."

The dark-haired teen turned around to walk back when he felt a pair of arms wrap around one of his arms. He turned to see it was only Sakura.

"Umm….I wanted to thank you. You saved my life and sorry I am such a burden to you. I mean it's not really my place to barge into your life like this. I mean you are trying to avenge your family's death and I'm am only slowing you down."

"No. Your not a burden well when I teach you to fight you wont and it gets boring to travel alone after you have been doing it for a long time, so don't be sorry."

"K."

_I think he is starting to like me….this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship! I just know it……._

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**Well I hope you all liked it. the next chappie will be even better. I promise. **

**And from now on I'll give you a sneak peak of the next chappie since you people have been nice to stick with me! **

**NEXT TIME: (Sakura talking) Things are going great till we run into some female ninja girl. And to make things worse she has a crush on Sasuke too! And just when we were getting close! And because we both like Sasuke things won't kick off too good between us! Great she a good fighter too. She's gonna kick my ass……Next time 'Chapter 6: Rival S.O.S.' **

**See ya then! **

**love, **

**kikyothepriestess05**


	6. Rival SOS

**Ok well long time no see..Sorry I haven't updated in like months..i know you all are pretty mad..but I got caught up in the whole school and boyfriend thing so yeah…well I guess enough chit chat and on with the story..enjoy!!!**

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**Chapter 6: Rival S.O.S**

The young pink-haired princess woke up to the calming sound of nature. The chirping of birds, the ruffling of leaves, the soft wind blowing, the grass cutting the air in thin blades. These things Sakura had come to enjoy. The beauty of it all overwhelmed her.

Opening her eyes the bright sun, shinning through the tall evergreen trees woke her. She smiled as she sat up and looked around. She took in her surroundings and sighed.

_Where's Sasuke now? Well one thing is for sure I'm not going out to find him. I'm staying right here. Cuz I am so not really to get attached by some weirdo out there._

Sakura turned her head looking around once more and saw something that made her feel safe. The mighty Sasuke was leaning against a tree, staring at the sky, with his oh so emotionless face, or his somewhat 'normal' face.

"Hey! Sasuke. I didn't see you there. So what's our plan?"

Sasuke taking his gaze from the sky, looked her over to realize she was fully awake and ready to take on the world.

"I guess we can start traveling again, unless you want to eat first."

"No thanks. I'm good. Let's go. Lead the way!"

Sakura had a big smile on her face. Sasuke just looked at her with thoughts running through his head. _How can she always be so happy? I mean last time I checked she hated her life because she was always limited to do things and yet she still smiles. She is very strong on the emotional side. I have to give her that. Being able to keep a smile going on for no reason that is._

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

_**One hour later**…._

Before long the two teens headed out. Sakura, like always, was going on about different things and Sasuke was listening to her for once. Well one thing was for sure, with the green-eyed girl with him, he would never feel alone. Because her ever so happy little self never left him alone. But for some reason this did not bother the young man at all. From the day he meet her. Something about her had just made her different from other girls. He didn't know what it was. But he was sure he would soon find out.

And out of nowhere. A female voice yelled out, "Sasuke Uchiha!!!"

Sasuke looked around to where the voice had come from. While the young pink-haired girl saw where it had come from already.

Just above their heads, in a tall oak tree, standing was a teenage girl at the age of 16 one year younger than Sakura. She was dressed out in purple and had long blonde hair pulled back in a neat looking ponytail. While she had long bangs in the front and icy blue eyes. Her skin was fairly white. Again she said. "Sasuke Uchiha. Darling where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever."

"Oh Ino. I have been busy as you could say." Sasuke answered her.

"What's with the Darling?? Sasuke who is this girl?" Sakura asked. Drawing attention to herself. The blonde-haired woman didn't really like the looks of this. Sasuke with another girl that is.

"Sakura, this is Ino. A friend of mine. She a ninja like me. Ino this is Sakura. Sakura is now traveling with me."

Sakura had so many thoughts going through her head…

_Please tell me she isn't Sasuke's girlfriend or something…I can just tell she is really into him…just when I thought things were going good too…_

"Well if she is able to travel with the mighty Sasuke you must be pretty impressive…So how strong are you…Sakura was it?" Ino asked.

"Strong…as in fighting??" The pink haired girl wondered.

"Oh she doesn't really fight, Ino." The male replied.

"Hn..I see..So you are acting as a guardian for her?" Ino asked.

"Well in a way…she helped me and I am helping her." Sasuke said.

"Oh." The blonde said.

"Well…I am going to go take a walk…I need to look around to see which way I need to travel in. Ino, watch over Sakura for me." The raven-haired boy said before leaping off into the unknown.

Sakura didn't like being alone with this girl. She was a bit bigger then her. Sakura stood at about 5'3 in height, while Ino stood at about 5'7. The blonde ninja was a bit wider in the waist too, but that was probably because she had more muscle seeing that she was a ninja in all.

_Aww..man why did Sasuke have to leave me here with Ino…I don't think she likes me..I think she might try to kill me and say something got me out here…I better keep to her good side._

As soon as the handsome ninja, Sasuke was gone Ino's cheerful little face changed, into a rather serious one.

"How in the world did you get to travel with him? You are a weak girl with no skill what so ever!" The blonde-haired person started.

"It's a long story. And I am going to become strong. Just you wait."

"Ohhh…really? How are u gonna do that?"

"Sasuke will teach me to fight. He told me so!"

"Hunny…he's too busy. You don't even know his story. Do you?"

"Yes how his brother killed his family. I know he told me everything! Thank you!"

_I can tell this is gonna be a long time being alone with Ino…I want Sasuke to come back!!_

_**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**_

_**A little while later…..**_

Sasuke came back to see the two females to be sitting down. But they were spaced very far apart. Ino in a tree and Sakura sitting on the ground about six or seven trees away.

"Thanks Ino. You can go now." The raven haired boy said gaining the two girls' attention.

Ino, jumping down from her tree said, "Sasuke are you sure? I mean I could travel with you. I could help you lots better than she could ever!"

The green-eyed girl just laughed at her. _Ino is just so jealous of me. I mean I can see why he doesn't want to hang around her she is just flat out crazy…And besides I am much better looking than her!_

"Oh that's okay. I can handle it just fine. I don't really need anymore help. So you can go."

_You tell her Sasuke…And plus Sasuke is too old for her anyway…She's what 16 and he is 19!_

Out of the quiet forest came two male voices. They sounded to be about 16-18 year old men. They were calling out "Ino!" over and over again. As if they were looking for her.

The blonde looked toward the voices until the two were in sight. It turned out to be a rather small guy with black spiky hair pulled up in a ponytail and a big guy with brown hair.

Upon seeing Ino the black haired one said, "Oh so you were with Sasuke this whole time, we should have known better than to worry about you."

"Oh Shikamaru, Chouji." The female ninja stated.

"Come on. We got places to see, Ino. So wrap it up with Sasuke." Shikamaru started.

"Fine!" Ino snapped. But held a sweeter voice when talking to Sasuke. "Take care Sasuke. Bye." With that she gave him a quick hug and left with Shikamaru and Chouji.

_I can't believe she had the nerve to give Sasuke a hug! He is sooo mine. She knows that too…But I wonder why she was so mean to me..and now I want to get strong soooo bad so I can beat her up!!_

With Ino gone the pink-haired girl felt better being alone once again with Sasuke.

"So umm..who were those guys anyway?"

"Shikamaru and Chouji. They are Ino's closest friends. They all travel together. After I told her she couldn't travel with me. She soon met those two and became apart of their traveling party."

"Oh ok..so why don't she just like that black haired dude, Shikamaru on her team instead of you? I mean he's not that bad looking."

"I don't know, you can ask her that one."

**XxXxXxXxX**

_**A couple hours later…**_

The two teens were once again traveling at a good pace when Sakura began to think about what Ino said. Calling her weak and stuff.

"Sasuke.."

"Hn?"

"When will you teach me to fight?"

"In the morning. I guess. Ino slowed us down a lot so we can just stay here for the night."

"Ok. And I am so glad you didn't let Ino travel with us. For some reason she hates me. She was so mean to me when you were gone."

"I kinda thought that would be the case. As you can tell she has a crush on me and she gets jealous very easily. And she has asked to travel with me lots of times but I figured since she has a thing for me it would be awkward if she made a move on me. Because I only see her as a friend."

"Oh I see…"

"Well sleep tight and rest up..you'll need it if I am going to train you tomorrow."

"Ok night Sasuke!"

"Night."

Sakura leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. She let her small ears listen to the chirping of birds, the blades of grass cutting through the wind, and the noises of bugs until she fell asleep.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

_**In the night…**_

Sakura woke up to the coldness of the air. It was freezing. And with her getting cold very easy, couldn't go back to sleep. She didn't know what to do for heat because there was nothing really to cover up with. At least that would keep her warm.

_What can I do to keep warm. All I see are leaves, rocks, trees, a river, and Sasuke…Sasuke! He has body heat so…no he wouldn't let me sleep right next to him..but I mean he has to be cold too…_

Being the girl she was, the pink princess got up slowly and walked gracefully over to Sasuke and sat right next to him. He looked so peaceful and gentle. His face without a flaw was perfectly still.

She was so interested in his looks that she didn't really notice him wake up and look at her.

"Sakura?"

"…"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh…I got cold and there's nothing out here to keep me warm so.."

"You thought you could sleep next to me?"

"Well yeah…"

"Fine. I was kinda cold myself."

"Really? I can stay?"

The boy didn't answer but he wrapped his strong arms around her small body, hoping to warm her and himself up. Sakura's heart was pounding. _If only Ino could see me now!!! _

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Well there you go. I promise to have the next chapter out pretty soon. So stick around!!!**

**Love ya!**

**Kikyothepriestess05**


	7. Stronger than before

Well thanks for all the reviews. I enjoyed reading them. Well now on with the story!!!

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**Chapter 7: Stronger than before**

Sakura looked around. For once, she was quiet. She was focused. She breathed silently, feeling the wind whip around her. Letting it mess her hair in tangles, she only thought.

_The first part of becoming a ninja is to be able to sense other people or objects near. Sasuke had told me. Sasuke is hiding and I am to sense him. He told me I must be calm... calm enough to hear everything around me. I guess this is why Sasuke is always so quiet and seems so emotionless…_

Now lets see…where are you Sasuke…

The raven haired teen sat, hidden in a bush. He studied his female traveling partner as she stood still with an unbelievably, emotionless face. He could tell she was really focusing. He liked that. That she really wanted to become stronger instead of pretending to want it.

Then as he was in thought. The pink haired girl looked toward his way and leaped. The male ninja then saw her sitting right in front of him. She had found him. Much faster than he thought it would take.

"Found you!!" She bellowed happily.

"Good."

"Tee hehe! Now what, sensei?"

"Sensei?"

"Well yeah. I mean you are my teacher now. And I just like to call you that. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Call me sensei if you please."

Sakura just smiled. She really wanted to become a ninja. So that she could help Sasuke instead of being a burden. And plus she would feel a lot better about herself is she knew she could protect herself.

"Next is chakra control."

"Chakra?"

**xXx**

_**Hours later…**_

Sasuke taught his pupil the basics to fighting. The right ways to punch, kick, dodge, and counter attacks. He then showed her how to control chakra. He was surprised at how well she was able to control her chakra. She had it almost instantly. Even though she wasn't aware of it but she wasn't just learning how to fight but she was learning to fight in the legendary Uchiha way. That was the only way Sasuke knew to fight so it was the only way he could teach her.

Sakura was covered in sweat. She had been working very hard. She was actually liking the whole training things and not just because Sasuke was her sensei.

"That's enough for today. Go find somewhere to go wash off. Because that's what I am going to do."

"Okay. I know the perfect place to go. I saw a hot springs when I was walked around earlier."

**xXx**

_**With Sakura…**_

The 17 year old princess walked off toward the place where she saw the hot springs. Once she got there she felt the water to make sure it wasn't too hot or too cold. It was perfect. Just how she liked it. It was warm. First, she used her new found ability to try and sense anyone around to make sure no one would spy on her.

After she scanned the area she took of her clothes and got in the hot spring.

"Ahh…it feels so good. Just what I need after training." Sakura then relaxed and let her skin get washed by the warm water. She then held her breathe and put her head underwater to get her hair wet and to get the dirt and whatever else was in there out.

_I wonder what Hinata is doing now? I really miss her. If only she could see me now. I am becoming a ninja! And I really like to travel around. It is just so cool, way better than being stuck at the castle all the time. I don't know how Hinata takes all that. I wonder sense the oldest princess is gone if those guys are trying to marry Hinata know…I really miss you, Hinata._

Sakura was so in thought that she didn't notice someone coming toward her area. Then she heard a twig snap.

"Who's there?"

The young girl began to panic thinking it could be a perverted man wanting to rape her or something.

Sakura reached toward a knife she had took with her just in case something like this would happen. While ready to throw the knife, the person spoke.

"Wait! I come in peace."

It was female voice. A young one too. Sakura had a feeling that she wasn't a threat. Soon the young woman came into Sakura's sight. She was raven haired girl with two buns on the side of her head. She was dressed like a ninja.

"Sorry to scare you. I have been training and I need to wash off. Mind if I join you?"

Sakura put down her knife but left it close by just in case something happened. The pink girl smiled and said.

"No I don't mind I was kinda wanting someone to talk to."

The raven haired girl smiled back and undressed and got into the hot springs. As she sat down in the hot springs she took out the buns in her hair. Like Sakura she put her head underwater to get her hair wet.

"So what's your name and what are you doing out here?" Sakura asked.

"Oh I guess I forgot in introduce myself. I'm Tenten."

"I'm Sakura."

"Im a ninja. I travel with two other guys. And I was dirty so I thought I would come and find a hot spring. And I came across you."

"Same here but I only travel with one other guy."

The girls talked for a while. Sakura found out Tenten had been a ninja for 3 years. She was 18 years old. And, that her best ability was throwing knifes and objects and she rarely ever missed a target.

Sakura didn't tell her how she was once a princess and stuff. She just told Tenten that she was just becoming a ninja and that they guy she was traveling with was training her.

"So Sakura. Where did you dye your hair. It's beautiful."

"Oh I didn't dye my hair is natural."

"Really? Wow you are the first person I have ever met with natural pink hair. Your hair is just so pretty."

"Thanks."

After a little while more of talking, the two girls got out and began to dress into their clothes. Sakura noticed Tenten's hair was just so long it came all the way down to her waist while hers only came to the middle of her back. Tenten then put her hair back up in two buns.

"Well good luck in your training! I bet we will met again soon and I wanna fight you so see how strong you are." Tenten said.

"Sure thing."

With that, they said goodbye and headed back to their travel parties.

Upon seeing Sasuke sitting at the base of a tree she called out to him.

"Hey Sasuke, I'm back!"

The raven haired teen look toward her and plainly said. "What took you so long?"

"Oh I met a girl. And we talked for a while her name was Tenten."

"Tenten? That's the female that travels around with Neji."

"Who's Neji?"

"A very strong guy."

"Oh..thats says a lot."

"Rest up because tomorrow we head out. Sakura nodded. She sat down at her own tree and closed her eyes. After a little while she was fast asleep.

**xXx**

_**In the Night...(About a week later)**_

The young pink haired girl woke up. She didn't know why. When she looked to the side she was surprised with what she saw. It was Sasuke, sitting right beside her. He was wide awake.

"Sensei?"

He just looked at her with an emotionless face. Sakura just couldn't get over how cute he looked. She smiled.

"What are doing over here?" She asked while sitting up.

"I thought I sensed someone and I thought I would sit over here so I could protect you."

"Sure…."

"What you think I came over here just to sleep next to you or something?"

Sakura giggled. "I have been with you for about a month and a half. And if I remember you said I have just about mastered the whole sensing people. And if I am as good as you say I would have sensed it too."

"….."

"But don't worry I was kinda cold."

Sakura leaned her head on Sasuke's shoulder and went back to sleep. Sasuke just sat there and look down at his shoulder looking at his new student. She was really starting to grow on him. He began to think.

_I guess she isn't the little clueless girl I met a while ago. She really has become stronger and smarter. She doesn't talk near as much as she did before. I guess she is trying to listen for people following us. But she still has that every so happy personality. I have never seen her mad before. I hate to say it but I think she has really gotten to me. This kid is okay._

It was true it had been about a week since he had started training her. She caught on pretty fast and she seemed a lot more sensible. He felt better knowing she could somewhat defend herself. But she would get a lot stronger. In about another month or so he believed she would be as strong or stronger than Ino.

**xXx**

_**In the morning…**_

The two teens were training. She was learning to perform different kinds of jutsus. It took her a while to learn but she did however learn them. After about 30 minutes of training they headed out.

"So Sasuke. Do you think I will be able to take on Ino now?"

"Probably in a month or so I'm sure you'll be able too."

"Good. So then she can't boss me around."

"Yeah. And plus you have an advantage over Ino."

"I do?"

"Yes. You have a smaller body frame than she does. You can move around easier. You are about what, 5'3? And Ino at 5'7?"

"Yeah that sounds about right."

"You are pretty small for your age you know."

"No I'm not. Am I?"

"Sakura I have seen 11 year olds at 5'5."

"Wow and now that I think of it when I left Hinata she was about an inch taller than me too. How tall are you Sasuke?"

"About 5'10 or 5'11"

"Wow your tall."

With that they walked onward into the unknown, with Sakura still going on about something. But she didn't talk near as much as she used to. But Sasuke didn't mind it. He liked the way her voice sounded. It was pleasing to listen too.

**xXx**

_**With Hinata…**_

The young raven-haired princess sat under a cherry blossom tree. The very tree her twin sister used to sit under. She missed her sister dearly. She wondered if Sakura was even okay out there.

Naruto who was walking outside saw Hinata sitting down under the tree and could tell she was thinking of her sister. He took this time to study her. She was wearing a dark blue kimono it had white flowers on it, with a white (whatever you call it that goes around their waist and ties in a bow in the back.)

She had a blue butterfly bobby pin that she put in her hair to go with the kimono. It was behind her left ear. _Wow Hinata looks so pretty. _

The blonde walked over and sat beside her. Hinata quickly snapped out of thinking to look toward him.

"Hey Hinata. Something wrong?"

"Oh nothing. I was just wondering about Sakura."

"I'm sure she is fine."

"I hope so."

"Lady Hinata." A voice came from the doorway of the castle. It was one of the castle guards. Hinata looked toward him as he walked over to her.

"A man has come to met you."

"Again?"

Naruto just remained quiet he did have feelings for Hinata but he didn't know how she felt towards him. He hated it when guys came buy to ask her in marriage. He was afraid eventually he was going to lose her.

"Now I know why Sakura got so sick of this." The young princess said standing up.

"Well I don't blame them. You are beautiful. I would marry you in a heart beat." Naruto said giving her assuring smile.

The castle guard was leading her away. However, as she was walking away she called out to him.

"As the same to you too Naruto."

"Please Lady Hinata, you can talk to him later. Thy King and Queen will be mad at me if I don't get you there soon."

Hinata turned back to him and nodded. He just lead her on to met a new man trying to marry her.

As she walked into the throne room she saw her father, with raven hair and green eyes, sitting in his throne, next to him was her mother, with pink hair and white eyes. As she looked around the room she saw a man. He had dark brown hair. It was down to his shoulders. He had black eyes and pale white skin.

He smiled and walked toward her he took her hand and kissed it.

"Lady Hinata. I have admired you from afar. Your beauty is the greatest I have ever laid eyes upon. May I ask your hand in marriage?"

Naruto was standing in the doorway. He listened to every word the man had said. He was afraid of what she would say. Because if she didn't he would make his move.

"I must decline."

"…."

With that she turned her head and smiled upon seeing her friend Naruto standing there. Before she could make it to the door a voice called out to her.

"Lady Hinata! Please wait! Give me a chance. I am different than other guys. I assure you, you will fall in love with me. If you give me the chance."

"Well, you are a handsome man …"

Naruto's heart stopped. _No, I waited to long. I lost…_

"But my heart is already taken."

Hinata walked past Naruto and into the hallway. Naruto stood there. _I am glad she turned him down but her heart is already taken…I wonder if she means me….only one way to find out…I must make a move I have stood in this doorway too many times…scared to death she would be taken by another man…its time…believe it._

**xXx**

_**About an hour later…**_

Hinata sat in her room, looking out her window. The sun was setting. It was a rather beautiful sight. She wondered about her sister. Inside she knew her twin was alive. If anything serve out of happiness or pain the other twin would somehow feel it. Because Hinata didn't feel anything like that, she knew her sister was alive.

There was knock at her door. Then she heard a castle guard call to her. "Lady Hinata."

She replied with a simple. "Yes?"

"You have another man hear to see you."

"Again? This is the second time today."

"Miss if I may say so. I believe it will be the very last time."

The raven-haired princess wondered what he meant by that. But she went to the door opened it. She gave him a nod letting him know she was ready to be lead to him. She realized she was not being lead to the throne room where every other man that had come for her, usually waited.

Soon she was lead outside. Her father and mother sat under the cherry blossom tree. She looked around but their was no man to be found so only saw her parents, the man who had lead her there, and Naruto.

She walked out so she stood upon the green grass. She looked toward her parents. Her mother had a smile on her face. Her mother was very beautiful. Sakura looked almost exactly like her mother, expect with green eyes and longer hair.

"Well where is he?" The Princess asked.

The Queen, Hinata's mother let out a small laugh. "Is it not to your sight who it is?"

As Hinata turned her view away from her mother, she saw Naurto walking toward her. Still not understanding what was going on she remained still. As Naurto got close to her he began to talk.

"Hinata, working so many years in this castle, me and you have grown closer, and there is something I have meaning to tell you for so long."

"………….."

"Princess Hinata, I love you."

This statement made her speechless. She stood there shocked. She watched as he got down on one knee and took one of her hands in his. He then took out a small box from his pocket. The blonde opened it to reveal a diamond ring. He looked her in the eye, and said.

"Will you marry me?"

She used her free hand to cover her mouth as tears came from her eyes. She smiled and for the first time in a long time she looked truly happy.

"Yes. I do."

**xXx**

_**With Sakura and Sasuke…**_

While walking through the forest Sakura stopped. She let out a light "Ah!" sound and used her hands to cover the place where her heart was. The male ninja looked at her trying to figure out what was going on.

"Something wrong?"

"No. It's just something really good just happened to Hinata."

Sasuke took a minute to think. Then he remembered Hinata was his pink haired companion's sister, who was about a minute younger than her.

"What do you mean something really good just happened to her?"

"Well we are twins and twins usually have a special bond between them. Hinata and I can feel each other's pain and happiness. I feel that she is very happy about something."

Sakura just thought.

_I wonder what she is so happy about. I wonder if Naruto confessed his feelings for her..no Naurto is too shy he couldn't have…._

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**Well thanks for reading. Now REVIEW!! Well stay tuned for my next chapter. I hope you all like the Naurto and Hinata scene. That's for the people asking to see them. Well love ya!**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	8. Cutting It Close

**Well I tried to make this one come out pretty quick so heres the next chapter!! I hope you all like it and don't forget to REVIEW!! If no one reviews then I think no one likes it so I won't finish the story. Its really important that I know what my readers are feeling bout my story. **

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**Chapter 8: Cutting It Close **

The two teens headed onward through the forest. The raven haired boy led the way followed by an unusually quiet green eyed girl. The more and more Sasuke trained her, the more he grew to like her. In a way she began to understand him more and she acted less childish. Every once in a while she would act like her old self, but it wasn't as bad as when he first met her.

"Sasuke…?" A light voice came. He knew it was Sakura. He liked it how she spoke very quietly, because anyone could hear them if they talked loud. Because some people just like to start fights for the heck of it.

"Hn?" He said turning around to face her, showing that he was listening.

"When do we get out of these woods? They seem to go on forever."

"Well these are some of the biggest woods in the region. But we should be reaching the end of them soon. We would have already been out by now but I have been stopping to train you so much."

"Oh okay."

The male ninja turned around and began to lead once again. The girl followed very quietly. They stayed quiet for a long time. It was about an hour later that they began to see the end of the forest. Sakura smiled at the bright sun light shining down to them as they exited the forest. She took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the brightness. She then took in her surroundings.

They were in a beautiful green valley. In the middle of the valley was a dirt road. Following the road with her eyes she noticed it lead to a village. The village looked like a friendly place.

"Sasuke.."

"You want to go to the village, right?"

"Oh yes! Please! I have never been to another town before. I have always been stuck in a castle. And plus I miss having a bed. So maybe we could get a room in an inn?"

Sasuke just began to lead the way. The pink haired girl smiled taking his response as a 'yes'. Right as the two were about to enter the city, Sakura pulled back grabbing Sasuke's arm.

"Sasuke…I forgot. I'm a missing princess. People will notice who I am, if I go in there."

"Here." Sasuke said pulling out a piece of cloth from the bag on his back.

Sakura took it and looked at it. Sasuke sighed.

"It's a head garment. Put it on your head. And theres an open spot that shows your eyes and the top of your nose."

"Okay!" She said slipping it on over her head. With that done the two entered the city. They looked around for a little while until Sakura spotted an inn.

"Sasuke. Lets go see how much their rooms are."

Sasuke just walked toward the inn and entered. Upon entering he asked how much the rooms were. It was $10 for a one bed room and $20 for a two bed room. (Back in those medieval days that was a lot of money. So im guessing at how much a room would be, so just go along.)

Even though Sakura was a princess and she did take a lot of money with her along the trip, it was no need in wasting her or Sasuke's money, so she came up with a plan.

"Sasuke lets just take the one bed room."

"Hn?"

"Well, I can sleep on the floor or something. There is no reason to pay that much more for one more bed."

"Fine. We'll take the one bed room." Sasuke told the clerk of the store.

A man then showed them to their room. Once in the room Sakura jumped onto the bed.

"Wow I missed this feeling."

"Are you gonna stay here?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I think I'll take a nap or something. But where are you going?"

"Into town, alright? I'll be back."

With that said, the male ninja left from the doorway. Sakura just layed down on the bed and removed the mask she was wearing. She then closed her eyes to relax.

**xXx**

_**With Sasuke…**_

_Just because I have that girl, Sakura, with me doesn't allow me to forget my overall goal, to kill my brother. I must ask around to see if anyone knows anything about his where abouts. I'm glad Sakura decided to stay at the inn. Its better that I work alone with this stuff. _

Sasuke began walking around the village. He looked around for the best people to ask, the people that would probably know something. These people would most likely be ninjas like himself.

He then stopped at a group that he believed might know something. He calmly walked over to them and spoke once the group looked toward him.

"Do you guys no anything about a guy name Itachi Uchiha?"

One guy smirked and decided to respond.

"What business do you have with him?"

"I want to kill him." Sasuke replied.

Another man asked.

"Do you know what you're up against?"

"Oh yeah. Do you know where he was recently?" The raven haired boy asked.

The third man who had been quiet so far, spoke.

"Word is, he was said to be in this actual town."

"Really? Then I have to keep an eye out for him."

With that said, Sasuke left and walked on through the village to try and find his brother.

**xXx**

_**With Sakura…**_

The pink haired girl opened her green eyes to see her friend hadn't come back. As she got out of bed she looked out the window to realize it was getting dark.

_I wonder where Sasuke is. I hope he didn't just leave me here. I mean I did ask him to take me away from the castle but I never said for him to never leave me. Maybe he felt like I would be okay, here by myself. Well, only one way to find out, I have to go look for him. _

With that the green eyed girl grabbed her face mask. But after looking at it she wondered if it made her look like some kind of bad guy, but looking out the window she noticed some other people had the same thing on their heads. _Maybe its just a common ninja thing. _She thought.

Without another thought she slipped it on her head and grabbed some knifes and put them in her ninja pouch, Sasuke had gave her along with the knifes he had also gave her.

**xXx**

_**In the streets…**_

The young ninja girl walked through the village. In a way she actually felt fine being by herself. Months ago she would have been terrified. She liked the feeling of being able to protect herself, somewhat. She knew she wasn't one of those badass ninjas, but she knew she could put up a fight to most ninjas. Not those like Sasuke though.

After walking around for a while, the sun had gone down and only the candles in the village lithe the way. Through the village there were dark alleys. She took the time to look down each one, guessing that's were Sasuke would be.

That's when she looked down one ally and saw a rather tall guy with raven hair. Because it was dark it was hard to make out who the person was. His back was turned to her.

"I wonder if that's Sasuke. I mean it looks just like him."

With that she just walked down the ally, but she had her guard up. She grabbed a knife out of her pouch, Sasuke had always taught her to keep her guard up with strangers.

As she got into talking distance of the person, she realized he was leaning up against a wall and his dark raven hair covered half his face from her view. It looked as if he was thinking.

"Sasuke?"

The man then turned to her and opened his eyes to show that they were red. She then realized it wasn't Sasuke.

"Now who are you?" His cold voice came.

"Oh no one, I just thought you were someone I knew. Well I have to find him so I have to go. Sorry."

The way he looked creped the young princess out, making her want to get away from him as fast she could.

"What relation do you have to Sasuke?" The man asked.

Ignoring him, Sakura keep walking away. And the next thing she knew she felt a hand grad the top of her mask. The man had pulled off her mask, curious to who she was. Without hesitation, she gripped the knife in her hand hard and turned around fast holding out the knife hoping she would strike him. But to her dismay the man leaped back.

"A ninja are you?"

"Hey mister, back off!!" Sakura yelled back, getting rather nervous. She knew this guy was no push over. But as she was afraid, she still held out her knife, pointing at him.

"Now answer my question what relation do you have to Sasuke? Is it perhaps Sasuke Uchiha?"

"……….."

"Tell me or I'll kill you."

"………"

"Or better yet tell me where he is, and what he is planning against, Itachi."

He smirked, thinking with the death threat he could get any answer he wanted. But to his surprise the girl kept quiet.

"Fine. I admire your bravery. But I'll still kill you."

Sakura just stood firm. Thoughts running through her head._ His voice sounds like Sasuke's. I wonder if this could be…Sasuke's older brother. He looks and sounds like Sasuke._

The man leaped and grabbed a knife. With great speed the man was coming down on her. Sakura saw him coming but she wasn't near as fast as him. But she still tried, she leaped back but he could still reach her with his long arms.

**xXx**

_**With Sasuke….**_

"I can't believe I haven't even spotted him. He has to be here."

Sasuke had been walking around for hours. And there was no trace of his brother. He was just about to give up when he was coming up to another ally. He was gonna take a quick look then give up. But as he came closer to it he heard something.

"AHH!" A female voice came.

There was only one thing going through Sasuke's mind. _That sounded like Sakura!_

He ran around the corner to see his pink haired companion laying on the ground with a little pool of blood forming under her, and a dark figure standing over her.

"Itachi!"

One thought was going in Sasuke's mind.

_No he can't take her away from me too!!_

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Well I hope you all like it. I worked really hard on it. And yes I left my famous cliff hanger!! If you read a lot of my stories then you have noticed I leave at least two really good cliff hangers in each of my stories!! So the more reviews I get, the faster I update!!

love ya

kikyothepriestess05!!


	9. Recovery

**Well I hoped you all loved the cliffhanger!! Well hey at least I didn't leave ya'll hanging for long!! So please review!!**

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**Chapter 9: Recovery**

The young raven haired ninja just starred in shock. He couldn't believe it. His older brother, Itachi had taken everything away from him, his mom his dad. Everyone. He was even going to take Sakura.

Seeming like it came on its own, rage overwhelmed his body. His eyes grew red to match his brother's. Itachi just remained standing still, near the pink haired girl, laying on the ground.

"Itachi!!" He said as he charged. The older ninja just stood and watch as Sasuke came closer and closer.

The older Uchiha just disappeared. Sasuke stopping, standing close to Sakura, saw Itachi reappear, further down the ally.

"Why did you attack her?!" Sasuke yelled. Almost ordering him to answer. Suddenly his cold, lifeless voice began to speak.

"I asked her questions, about you."

"……."

"Like where you were and what you have planned."

"……And?!"

"I told her if she didn't tell me I would kill her. She refused to talk."

Itachi stopped talking for a moment again, as if he could only say a sentence at a time.

"Hn…!" He said surprised. He looked down at Sakura laying at his feet, amazed she would do that.

"I give her credit, she is very brave to stand up to me. She didn't even show she was scared."

"………"

"She's smart too. I was aiming on stabbing her right in the heart, but she ducked down a little, knowing she couldn't escape me, I missed her heart. She was cutting it close, dealing with me."

"I'll kill you!!"

"Try all you want, little brother."

With that Itachi disappeared. Sasuke would have chased after him but he had to save Sakura. Because she was all that really mattered to him right now. He picked up the girl with blood flowing freely down her shoulder. He knew if he were to get her through town he would have to cover that up somehow. He removed his shirt and wrapped it around her. He then leaped to the tops of building to travel faster. A couple of buildings down he made it to the inn. He then jumped down in front of it to reach the door. He entered the building running past the clerk without being noticed due to clerk looking at a book.

He finally made it to the room they shared. He moved very quickly as if he were too slow he would lose everything. He removed the shirt from her shoulder and placed it under her shoulder as he layed her on the bed. He then grabbed a rag out of his bag and used it to press down on her cut to stop the blood from flowing freely.

After a while of holding it he angled himself sitting beside her on the bed still holding the rag. After about 10 minutes the cut completely stopped bleeding for the moment. He then went to his bag again to get a bottle of water.

He poured the water over her shoulder and used a cloth to wipe the dry blood off so he could get a better look at the cut. Once all the blood was washed off he could see how close the cut was to her heart. It was right above it. A couple of inches below and he could have killed her.

He saw the cut was very deep, he figured that instead of one side of the knife barely grazing her skin, the whole front of the knife must have went cutting into her.

He then used bandages to wrap around the cut to keep the skin close together so it would heal faster. From there he could only hope she hadn't had lost too much blood. He didn't know how much she could have lost from him hearing her scream to finding her to talking to Itachi and then carrying her home. Chances are it could have been a lot.

Sasuke then sat in a chair next to the window. He began to think looking at the young girl. The young girl that was a princess and wanted to be able to travel into the wilderness to be taken away from her castle. But this, getting hurt. Probably wasn't what she wanted. And he felt horrible letting her get attacked.

_I just can't believe she didn't say anything to give away my location or plans. Not that she knows them but she didn't say anything. She was willing to give her life to protect me from people wanting to kill me. She must really care for me. She's smart too, she could have died on the spot but she angled herself where he missed her heart. He hit the lower part of her shoulder. If she would have took off running he would have easily caught her and killed her. I think if she gets through this okay, which I'm sure she will, she really has what it takes to be a top ranked ninja someday. _

**xXx**

_**An hour later….**_

Sakura began to open her eyes. She began to blink them so they could adjust to the rather dark room. Sasuke noticed this and decided to help her out, he gracefully walked across the room without hitting anything and lit a lantern. he sat it on the stand next to the bed. Because the room was rather small it just about lithe up the whole room.

As she opened her eyes she could now see. Her shoulder burned with pain badly. She was scared because she was confused at first she didn't remember what had happened or where she was now, because she was starring at a ceiling.

"Sakura. Are you okay?"

She knew that voice. She smiled. Everything thing had came back to her and she knew Sasuke had saved her.

"Sasuke!"

Right as she was going to attempt to sit up, she let strong arms hold her down. She looked up to see Sasuke's handsome face. He was leaning over her.

"Don't move, you'll open your wound up completely and you'll lose more blood."

"Sorry."

"Hn. Now are you hungry?"

"Yes. Starving."

"Let me sit you up. Just don't move you're left arm because you'll probably hurt yourself. So don't move, I'm going do everything for you."

The green eyed girl relaxed her body as she allowed her rather handsome partner sit her up, putting her back leaning against a wall. She was sitting on the far side of the bed. He pulled the table in the room close to the bed.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked her raven haired friend.

"I'm getting you your food."

"Oh you got me some already!" She said happy to know she would be eating soon.

Sasuke went to his bag and pulled out a box. He put the medium sized box on the table and pulled out food revealing it to be meat. Chicken to be exact. Sakura smiled. It had been a while since she had had real food. In the forest all the ate was fruit they found and certain nuts.

She had even lost weight because the lack of food. Sasuke then got the cup of water sitting on the stand next to the bed, and put it on the table in front of Sakura. The princess smiled and began to eat.

**xXx**

_**A little while later….**_

After Sakura was done eating, the raven haired thief helped to lay her back down. Sasuke then sat in a chair next to the window, to watch her. He noticed that she closed her eyes as she let out a small groan of pain.

Without asking he noticed that the wound had started bleeding again. He wasn't surprised. He predicted the wound wasn't done bleeding before. He grabbed the rag he had used before, but he had washed it. He went over to her and looked down on her face. He was surprised that she hid her emotions, he knew she was in pain but her face said she wasn't feeling anything.

"Now don't move okay?" The male ordered.

"Okay."

He unwrapped her bandages and pressed the rag down on her wound. After a couple of minutes it stopped. He got new bandages and wrapped them around her cut and returned to his chair.

"Now just rest."

"But what about you Sasuke? You can't go to sleep in a chair. I can lay in the floor and you can have the bed."

"Don't be stupid."

"Hey I'm trying to be nice."

"You're injured. You need to relax and get rest so you can recover faster. And I'm not going to sleep."

"Why not? You have been out all day. You must be tried."

"I need to make sure you don't start bleeding again."

"I'll be okay."

"Go to sleep."

"………"

With that Sakura closed her eyes. But she soon began to remember what had happened earlier. She remembered after she had gotten stabbed, she could hear voices. The man had called Sasuke, little brother. This brought curiosity to her mind.

"Sasuke. That guy was your brother. Wasn't he?"

"Yea."

"You let him get away. Why didn't you chase after him? I mean he's the very reason you are on this journey."

"I had to get you to safety."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"………"

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"Hm?"

"The stuff he asked you to tell him?"

"Well I didn't know who he was, so I didn't want to tell just any guy stuff about you. I would never betray you like that."

"You have come a long way from a little princess."

"I know. When do we start traveling again?"

"When you get better."

The female let out a small sigh. She turned her gaze away from Sasuke's and looked as if she was almost sad. Her expression caused the Uchiha to become confused.

"Hn?"

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I'm slowing you down again."

"Stop blaming yourself."

"Well it is my fault."

Sasuke sighed as if she was missing the obvious. He stared at the wall as he began to speak with his calm voice.

"You didn't tell Itachi anything. You just about risked your life for me, so I think I can put up with staying here a couple of days longer."

The princess smiled. Sasuke and her were really coming closer and closer and it made her happier and happier.

"Now go to sleep."

Sakura, who had been sitting up, slowly began to try to lay herself down without hurting her shoulder, but she soon felt Sasuke's strong warm hands helping her. Once her head met a pillow she relaxed her body. Her older friend pulled the covers over her, he then sat back down in the chair beside the window.

"Hey you can sleep in the bed you know, its big enough for both of us." Sakura said.

"Go to sleep."

"I won't until you lay down in the bed. I feel bad that you are willing to sleep in a chair. If you don't want to lay next to me, I'll lay on the floor and you can have the bed."

The raven-haired boy let out a small laugh. He shook his head and raised his head to look at the young pink haired girl.

"You're injured. You are gonna stay in that bed."

"Oh really?" Sakura began as she started to move, making an effort to sit up.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said raising up to stop whatever she was trying to do.

"I'm gonna let you have the bed."

"No, you're not." He said lightly pushing her back down.

"But-.."

"If you don't stop moving your going to open your wound back up."

"Well then lay down."

"Fine."

As Sakura stopped fighting. She layed down to watch Sasuke move over to the candle and blow it out. As the room was filled with darkness, she felt the bed move as Sasuke layed down next to her. Sakura smiled.

"There now isn't that better than that old chair?" Sakura said.

"Hn."

The pink haired princess just smiled. In the beginning she hated when he simply said 'hn' but now she just took it as a 'yes'. They had gotten really close.

**xXx**

_**In the morning…**_

Sasuke woke only to feel very warm. Which was surprising because it was being to get chilly outside. But leaving this thought he then realized that the warmth was Sakura's body heat. She was snuggled up to him. He would have pushed her off so he could get up but he decided not to. He remained laying down and took in her scent.

She smelled of flowers and another good smelling thing but he just couldn't think of it. He just brushed it off and looked down at her hurt shoulder. The white bandages where stained with a little bit of blood, she hadn't bled much through the night.

_I can't believe I was stupid enough to leave her alone. But I am surprised she hasn't complained about getting hurt. I remember when I left her in the forest all by herself and that guy tried to attack her. She blessed me out for that one. But she hasn't said anything this time and this time she actually got hurt. She's a lot tougher than I thought she would be…but now Itachi knows who she is..i wonder if he'll ever take her as a hostage just to get to me…maybe I should leave her somewhere safe…but I can't abandon her….she's like the only thing in this world I have…what am I talking about its not like she's my girlfriend. She doesn't even like me…she only used me to get away from the castle and princess life she had. If anything..she sees me as her older brother…_

As the young 19-year old man was lost in thought, his pink-haired friend began to wake up. As she started to move, Sasuke sat up letting her to realize it was time to wake up. Sakura took the message and sat up. She rubbed her eyes as they were greeted by the sun.

Sasuke standing up, stretched and turned back to look at his friend.

"How is your shoulder feeling?"

"Better. Still a little sore. But its okay."

Sakura began to get up, she stood in front of the window and yawned. She walked over to the door and began to slip on her shoes. Doing this put her raven haired friend in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

"Well aren't we heading out today?" Sakura asked puzzled.

"Well you are hurt. We can stay here for another day."

"No. I am not slowing you down anymore than what I already am. And besides Itachi couldn't have gotten far away. If we wait too much longer you will have to do all your searching from square one again. And I don't need my shoulder to walk. I can walk fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Let's go."

Sasuke smiled at her determination. He then packed the stuff together, handed Sakura her head cloth, and the two began walking their way out of the town.

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**Well thanks for reading!! PLZ REVIEW MY STORY!! I really need to know how yall are feeling about the story so plz feel free to review. I mean if you are reading this story and not reviewing that sucks. I take time out of my life to write for yall and yall cant take less than five minutes to send me some love..lol but yeah for real plz review!!**

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	10. No Longer Helpless

**Well thanks for reviewing I really love it. Well here you go the next chapter!! Hope you all love it.**

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**Chapter 10: No Longer Helpless**

Sasuke and Sakura had been walking for quite a while. They were a long way from the town. Sasuke was surprised Sakura had the energy to keep up with him. He wondered if she was just acting like she had energy but really didn't.

"Are you okay?" The older one asked without looking behind him.

"Yeah! I'm fine."

As Sasuke was walking forward he saw out of the corner of his eye that Sakura had come to walk beside him instead of behind him. He didn't ask why he just resumed on walking ahead.

After about an hour they saw that the dirt road they were following lead them right into the middle of another forest. But it wasn't like the first forest, you could still see the dirt road very well.

"Not into the forest again. Gosh I am really gonna miss the sunlight." Sakura sighed.

Sasuke just merely looked at her and began walking again. The pink haired girl soon followed.

**xXx**

_**In the forest….**_

The sun was starting to set. You could see the orange glow of sun through the patches of the treetops. The air was getting to be a little chilly. They were a little ways into the forest when Sasuke stopped.

"I think we should stop here. The sun is going down so we should stop while we can still see."

"Okay fine by me."

As Sasuke heard her agreeing, he lead her behind a rather very large tree on the other side of the tree was another larger tree. In between the two trees you couldn't be seen from the road. Once in-between the trees he sat down the stuff and began to make camp by starting a fire.

Sakura sat with her back against a tree as she watched Sasuke finish setting up the camp. Sasuke once finished, turned to look at his pink haired friend.

"I need to check your wound." Sasuke began to walk over to her.

Sakura pulled her shirt down over her left shoulder so Sasuke could see her wound. He slowly unwrapped the bandages acting as if he pulled them off fast it would hurt her. Once the bandages were off, he looked to realize the wound was starting to heal.

"It's healing up fast. It's starting to close up, so you should stop bleeding soon."

"There's a lot of dry blood around my shoulder so I am going to go look for a river or something to wash off. So I'll be back."

"Okay but don't go to far."

"Alright I won't."

**xXx**

_**With Sakura…**_

Sakura walked a little ways through the forest. She didn't bother wrapping her wound back up, she just pulled her sleeve back over it. The young woman stopped and listened.

"There. I hear a river or stream or something ahead. It can't be far." The young princess started off in the direction she heard running water.

Once there she saw it was a small creek. She smiled, the water was nice and clear. It would be a good place to wash the dry blood off of her shoulder.

Just as she was about to start cleaning her wound, she heard something not far off.

"AHH!" A groan came. The groan sounded to be pained.

"What the-?" Sakura started. She was cut off when all of a sudden a familiar blonde female came crashing down out of a tree, she landed on her back.

"Hey it's that 16 year old brat, what's her name…Ino!"

Sakura ran over to her to realize, Ino was covered with a couple of bruises and scratches. It seemed as if she was in a fight.

"Ino?"

Ino opened eyes to look around and began to get up. She glared at Sakura and turned her back to her.

"This is no place for a weakling, forehead girl. I'm in a battle." The blonde said.

"Looks like your loosing."

"Its because she is." A voice came. It sounded to be a girl about their age.

"Up here!" Ino yelled pointing to the enemy.

With that Sakura looked up in a tree to see a young female about 18, with pale white skin and long jet black hair that came down to just about her ankles with a small bow in it at the bottom.

"The name is Kin." The enemy girl stated.

"That little bitch stole me and my groups money." Ino added.

"Well I guess its time to put my strength to the test!" Sakura said leaping into one of the nearby trees.

"What? You can't fight forehead girl!" Ino said.

But before the blonde could say more, Sakura leaped toward Kin. Kin leaped back only to see a cloud of smoke appear around Sakura. While trying to find the pink haired girl, Kin felt a powerful blow come right to the back of her head. This sent Kin flying face fires into the ground.

**xXx**

_**With Sasuke…**_

The male ninja remained still as he sat at the camp, guarding the stuff. He couldn't help but worry about Sakura. He was afraid something would happen to her. Especially with her shoulder hurt.

Sasuke couldn't help but to keep hearing certain crashes from off in the distance. His imagination got the better of him and he began to think that Sakura was being attacked.

"I better go find her."

With that Sasuke got up and raced toward all of the noise. He soon came closer and closer. He then heard a large crash. He looked through some bushes to see a girl with long black hair laying on the ground. She started to move. She began to get up but as soon as she got to her feet. A pink flash came. It was Sakura. Sakura quickly kneed her in the stomach making her fall back to the ground. But Kin got back up faster this time, she jumped back into a nearby tree.

Sakura followed. But as Sakura was still in the air, Kin jumped from the tree she was in. She tried to punch Sakura. But Sakura leaned back to dodge it and then kicked her in the stomach. With that Kin was sent to the ground again. Sakura then followed, she landed with her feet coming down on Kin's back.

Sakura jumped off of her and stood to see if she was getting up again. Kin began to move. She got up to show she had bruises and scratches on her. Her lip was busted. She looked back at Sakura and began to speak.

"Here take the damn money! Just let me go."

Kin grabbed at a bag of money in her pouch. She then threw it toward Sakura. As Sakura kneeled down to pick it up, Kin got up and fled from the scene.

With the battle over, Sasuke came out of the bushes to lock eyes with Sakura. He smirked. Those smirks made her almost melt.

"You did better than I thought you would." Sasuke said.

"Thanks."

"SASUKE!!" A girl voice shrieked.

And not a second later, Ino had her arms wrapped around Sasuke.

"I knew I would see you soon! I missed you so much!"

Sakura just glared at Ino. She hated it when Ino touched him. Sakura hated the thought of another girl even looking at him let alone touching him. As Sasuke was being attacked by Ino, he looked toward Sakura to see her glaring as if she was jealous. As Sakura stopped glaring toward Ino, she looked at Sasuke to only see him smirking at her.

_Oh no, I think he saw he glaring at Ino. So much for him not finding out. I mean its true I do really really really like him but I don't think he likes me and what if he leaves me. Because I remember what he said about Ino the first time I met her._

_**Flashback**_

"_**Ok. And I am so glad you didn't let Ino travel with us. For some reason she hates me. She was so mean to me when you were gone. How come you never let her travel with you?" Sakura asked.**_

"_**I kinda thought that would be the case. As you can tell she has a crush on me and she gets jealous very easily. And she has asked to travel with me lots of times but I figured since she has a thing for me it would be awkward if she made a move on me. Because I only see her as a friend."**_

"_**Oh I see…"**_

_**End of Flasback**_

_Maybe if he found out I had a thing for him, and didn't like me he would leave me…I hope he doesn't find out or it would be better if he liked me back….._

Sakura pushed those thoughts away and cleared her throat to get Ino's attention. Once Ino looked at her, Sakura walked toward her and handed her back her money bag.

"Oh thanks. Since when can you fight anyway?"

"I told you Sasuke was going to train me. I have been training for about six to seven months now."

"Well I just wasn't trying to really beat her up. I was saving my energy." Ino lied.

"Why would you waste your time, use your energy and get rid of her quick. Duh! That's what a real fighter does." The pink haired girl stated.

"Whose says that kind of crap?" The blonde protested.

"Actually I do." Sasuke piped in.

Upon hearing Sasuke, Ino's face changed from a pissed off mood to a lovely dovey one.

"Oh of course Sasuke. That totally makes sense." Ino said grabbing onto his arm. "By the way I need to talk to you…_in private." _

Sakura knew without thinking that last part was meant directly toward her. She really didn't like Ino. All Ino did was try to take Sasuke away from her.

"Okay." Sasuke said.

As Ino began to lead Sasuke away by holding on to his arm, she turned her head back toward Sakura and smiled back at her with an attitude that said 'I win!' and stuck her tongue out.

The princess only glared at her. She walked over to the creek and sat down. She soon began to talk to herself.

"Who the hell sticks their tongue out? Two years olds do that!! But then again she is only a little 16 year old. Sasuke is too old for her. He is 19."

With that said, Sakura just sat at the river and started to wash off her shoulder, during the battle a little dirt had got on her too. She made it look like she was patiently waiting for Sasuke to come back, when on the inside she was dying to have him back with her and away from Ino.

**xXx**

_**With Sasuke and Ino…**_

As they got out of hearing area of Sakura, the blonde turned to face Sasuke. She smiled and acted as if she was the cutest thing in the world.

"So Sasuke do you like Sakura?"

"What?"

"Because I don't think you should waste your time with her. I love you more that she EVER will. And plus I am way better looking. I mean yeah she may be like stronger than me, but if that's what you really want in a girl then I could train a lot more and be stronger."

"Ino, I don't see you like that."

"Why is it because you like Sakura?"

"Don't worry about it."

Sasuke turned to walk away from her but Ino stopped him by grabbing at his arm. He turned to look at her as if asking why she was stopping him.

"I guess I'll see you around. I should be getting back to Shikamaru and Chouji. But Sasuke if you ever need me I am here for you. I really do care for you…."

Sasuke simply nodded and with that the blonde haired girl left, saddened that Sasuke didn't have the same feelings for her. The male ninja then started on his way back to his pink haired companion. He soon found her at the side of creek washing off the dry blood from her wound.

As he came to sit beside her, he couldn't help but smirk to see that she had missed a spot. It was kinda of near the top of her shoulder and over toward her neck, when she tilted her head to look at her shoulder she probably couldn't see it.

As Sakura looked at him she saw him smirking. This caused her to get a rather puzzled look on her face.

Without any words, Sasuke grabbed the rag Sakura was using out of her hand, and began to scrub at the part she missed.

"You missed a spot."

He came closer to her to get a better reach of it. He then used his free hand to rest on the other side of her neck so he could hold her neck still. This made Sakura almost melt.

_Wow. I can't believe how much Sasuke really gets to me. He is just so handsome…_

Sakura just sat and looked at the flawless face of the raven haired boy. As he finished, he noticed that the sun had gone down and it was dark but not pitch black, you could kind of see.

It was chilly and Sakura began to shake having the cold water still fresh on her shoulder. But she had nothing to really cover it because her shirt had very short sleeves.

Sasuke noticed this and took of his shirt, showing his rather tan and lean abs. It looked like he had a 12 pack. He used his shirt to wipe away all the water on her shoulder and then flipped it around to the other side and wrapped it around her to keep her warm.

"Thanks."

"Come on."

Sasuke then led her back to the camp.

**xXx**

_**At the camp…**_

Sakura sat next to the fire and had her back leaned against a tree. Sasuke sat across from her also leaning against a tree.

"You impressed me Sakura." Sasuke started.

"Really? With my fighting?"

"Yeah. You took that girl out with no sweat while it took everything Ino had in her."

"Yeah. She was really slow."

"Are we friends?"

"Yeah…."

"Then why are you all the way over there? I don't have a disease or anything. Come sit next to me."

Sasuke didn't argue. He quietly came and sat next to her. Sakura smiled and used the some of the blanket she had to cover Sasuke too. She moved as close as she could to him so the blanket would cover him completely. She then rested her head against his shoulder, she smiled when she felt his head lean on hers.

"Night Sasuke."

"Night."

Sasuke began to think as he began to doze off to sleep.

_i still can't believe Sakura, took that girl down just like that. I kinda miss her beening that helpless little princess. She doesn't need to be protected that much anymore. I guess she is no longer helpless._

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**Well thanks for reading so PLZ REVIEW!! Reviewing means a lot to me so plz tell me how you feel bout my story..i work so hard for you people…but anyway I try to have the next chapter out soon!!**

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05!!**


	11. Internal Conflict on the Heart

**Well thanks for the reviews. I really like knowing what yall think of my stories. But anyway here is the next chapter I hope you all really like. Something unexpected is coming your way!! Since I am so nice, I actually put in an extra scene I wasn't planning on putting in the story..its at the very end of the chapter. But that scene makes the chapter super long!!**

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**Chapter 11: Internal Conflict on the Heart**

It had been a couple of days since Sakura had saved her much hated rival, Ino. The young princess's wound was just about healed up completely. The wound was still pretty sore though, especially after all the moving around during the fight with Kin.

In the beginning, the pink princess walked behind Sasuke, but as to an unknown reason she took pride in walking beside him. Sasuke figured it was a way where she could talk to him more or something of the sort.

The two were walking down a dirt road out in the middle of a field. Right after the fight with Kin and saving Ino, Sakura and Sasuke had come in contact with a group of people. Being one to never stall on his quest, Sasuke asked if they knew anything about Itachi. It turned out they did.

They had said Itachi was headed back south. So without hesitation the party of two turned onto a different route on the way back south.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"If I'm right this road, if we followed it long enough, would lead us back to my father's castle, right?"

"Yea."

"I wonder how Hinata is doing. I really miss her and mom too."

"What about your father?"

"Well of course I miss him too but its just I have a lot better connection to Hinata and my mom. My dad just never really seemed to understand me, my mother did. She understood me very well. It's like she had been through all of the same stuff I have. I mean if I told her why I left the castle and stuff, I would bet the world, she would be okay with it. She would be happy as long as I am happy."

"Hn."

"But my dad was the type unlike that. He only wanted what he said was 'the best for me.' He didn't really care how I really felt about things."

The two grew silent for a moment. Sakura was having memories about her family. How she missed them so much. After her thoughts were out of her head, she broke the silence.

"When you broke into the castle, did you ever get to see my mom?"

"I don't think so. I don't know what she looks like."

"Well, she looks a lot like me, just she had pink hair to about her shoulders and white eyes."

"White eyes?"

"Yeah. Hinata took after her and had white eyes too, I took my dad's and had green eyes."

_White eyes? There is no way Sakura could be a member of the Hyuga clan. Maybe not from her father's side of the family but from her mother's. I wonder if I should ask her._

"Sakura. What is your mother's maiden name?"

"Hyuga."

"..."

Why?"

"I know someone who is a Hyuga and he has white eyes."

"Really who?"

"You remember that girl, you told me you had met, Tenten?"

"Yea."

"Well she travels with him. His name is Neji Hyuga."

"I wonder if some how he is kin to me."

"Hn."

With that thought the two grew silent again as they started to head into a small patch of woods.

**xXx**

_**In the Woods….**_

The pink haired girl and the male ninja were making their way through the woods. Sakura was talking to Sasuke about something, while all Sasuke could do was keep on thinking about the whole 'Hyuga thing'. _Well..if Sakura was really part of that legendary Hyuga clan then that would explain why she picks fighting techniques up really fast._

The male ninja let out a small laugh at his thought. Indeed it did make sense. Sakura, who had been keeping her focus on her surroundings began to speak.

"There's someone watching us."

"Hn. I sense it too."

Sasuke glared into the woods all around them, but as they were searching, the people began to reveal themselves, as to speak of the devil it was..

"Hey Sakura! Remember me? Its been a long time."

"Hey Tenten!" Sakura said greeting the girl who had jumped down in front of her. Two other people landed behind her.

"Here met my friends. This is Rock Lee and that's Neji." Tenten said turning Sakura to look at the two older guys.

_Neji that was the guy Sasuke was talking about and sure enough he has white eyes just like my mom. I wanna ask him some questions._

But before the girl could start her questioning, Rock Lee grabbed her hand and began to talk.

"It's a pleasure to met you Miss Sakura. I know we have just met but, will you be my girlfriend?" Rock Lee started.

"What?" Sakura asked looking at him with a rather confused face saying 'What kind of pick-up line is that?'

Without another chance to say a word, Sasuke put his hand on Sakura's good shoulder and glared at Lee.

"Would you stop scaring her." Sasuke spat, pulling Sakura away from Lee and closer to him.

Tenten, seeing this figured what Sasuke was really doing. He was jealous of any guy even laying a finger on the young girl.

"Aw does Sasuke have feelings for Sakura?" Tenten teased.

"I'm just helping her out by getting her away from Lee." Sasuke said hotly.

_Well he never denied it…_Tenten thought.

"Hey Neji I got a question for you." Sakura said walking over to him.

"Hn?" Neji said eyeing the little pink girl. As if trying to figure out what kind of question could you ask someone you just met and know nothing about.

"What's your mom's name?" The female ninja with pink hair asked.

"Why would you ask that?" Neji snorted back, signaling that it was too random for him.

"Because, my mom has white eyes just like yours. I have a sister with white eyes too and I have never seen someone other than them to have white eyes."

"So you think I am your brother or something?" Neji asked remaining stiff and backing up a cold voice.

"Well maybe not a brother, but I thought maybe we could be kin somehow and I was curious." Sakura said.

"The only way we could be kin is if your mom was a Hyuga." Neji informed.

Sakura sighed as if he wasn't getting the point. "My mom's maiden name is Hyuga."

As if shocked, he took the time to look over the small female. He began to realize things as thoughts ran through his head.

_I don't believe it, she does look a lot like my mother. The pink hair, and her face, and just everything other than her green eyes. But she's really small, mom is skinny but way taller, but other than that she looks like mom._

"My mother is Misao Hyuga. But now her name is Misao Haruno after she married."**(I have no clue what Neji's real mom's name is or Sakura's or Hinata's so I just made something up. And yeah I know Neji's mom probably didn't have pink hair but in this story things work out good together if you think about it. Well when you review tell me if you think things work out good, I just hope you agree with me.)**

"That's my mom too! The guy she married, is my dad because my last name is Haruno. But I wonder why my mom never told me about you. How come you didn't live with us in the castle?" Sakura asked once again puzzled.

"It's a long story." Neji said as if saying he didn't feel like talking about it.

"I got time." The princess said annoying him.

"Tenten." Neji said without turning his gaze away from his newly found sister.

"Hm?" Tenten said walking to stand beside her friend.

"You know the story, so tell her. I'll be back, I'm going to take a walk." Neji said as he began to walk away.

"I'm going too." Sasuke said calmly. But before he could walk over and join with Neji, his female ninja with pink haired grabbed his arm.

"Your leaving?" Sakura said, in her eyes it showed she was saddened at the thought of being separated from Sasuke.

Seeing this Sasuke actually gave her a small smile. He pulled his arm away from her grasp, but before she could pull her arm back, he reached and grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"I'm coming back." And as he was letting her hand go, he whispered where Sakura could barely hear him, "I'll always come back to you."

"What?" Sakura asked not sure to what he exactly said. But Sasuke shook his head saying it was nothing. With that he walked over to join Neji, who had saw the whole thing. Rock Lee who saw them just stood there hoping he could stay to be Sakura, without any other guys around.

"Lee, your coming too." Neji said.

"I am staying to protect the girls." Lee lied.

"No, all you want to do is flirt with Sakura." Neji said already becoming a over protective brother.

"Fine." Lee said giving in.

With that all the guys walked off into the woods. Tenten and Sakura were left alone. Before Sakura heard the story the two decided to make camp for both groups seeing that it was getting dark and neither Neji nor Sasuke liked to travel at night. So the two girls picked a spot between two big trees a little ways from the road. They started a fire and finally got to sit down and lean against a big oak tree near the fire.

"So tell me the story." Sakura said, sounding to be a little kid wanting a bed time story.

"Okay lets see. We start with your mom, Misao Hyuga. She lived in a village a little ways from Konoha, where the biggest branch of the Hyuga clan lived. As she grew up of course she became a ninja. She began to travel and when she was about 17 to19 years old, and along her travels she met Neji's dad."

Sakura, the young princess keep listening as if it was the coolest thing she had ever heard or maybe it was the coolest thing she had ever heard, hearing her mom's story or whatever.

"She became friends with him and soon traveled around together. The two got really close and they began to love each other. And of course soon enough, Misao got pregnant. So, they decided to go and stay in a village to settle down for a while to raise the baby. They ended up settling in Konoha. While Misao stayed in the house and stuff, Neji's dad would go out and get food and support the family. But one day when he was out he caught an illness. It was about 4 months with the illness that he soon died."

"Aww that is so sad. I had no idea my mom went through that." Sakura said shocked to hear the information.

"But then after some more months, Misao gave birth to Neji. Like his father he had black hair but had his mother's white eyes. Because Neji's dad was dead when he was born, he just took his mother's last name. Misao raised Neji the best that she could. When Neji was five years old, Misao was out in town when she happened to met with the prince of Konoha. The two started dating and before long the prince proposed to her. Of course Misao said 'yes.' After the marriage, Misao was moving into the castle but Neji refused to go. He said that he didn't want the life of being a prince, and besides Neji would never be able to rule the kingdom because he was not the king's biological son. Therefore he didn't have the royal blood to rule. Being the understanding mother that she is, Misao allowed Neji to stay outside of the castle and live with his uncle. It was his dad's brother."

"That sounds like mom because she really does understand things." Sakura said.

"And of course she became the queen and by the time Neji was six he told me that he heard that his mother had gave birth to twins. And one of them was you Sakura."

"Yeah me and my sister Hinata. Hinata looks a lot like Neji she has black hair and white eyes. I am the only kid not to have mom's white eyes. I feel like an odd ball." Sakura said.

"Well don't worry about it. Well anyway Neji stayed with his uncle for a while until when he turned 15 he decided he wanted to travel and so that's when he set off and met me and Lee and here we are."

"Hey Tenten, so did my mom like abandon Neji?"

"No. Neji would meet his mother in the back of castle where the court yard is. He goes there even to this day and sees her every once in a while. Come to think of it, its about time he goes to see her soon. Maybe you could go with him to see your mom."

"Yeah. Its been a long time since I have seen mom. I wonder if she missies me."

"Oh she does. She has told Neji she does."

"Neji knew I left the castle?"

"Yea. She told him a lot of things about you and your sister. He just never got to meet you two. She even told Neji that if he found you out here to look out for you. It was hard for him because he didn't really know what you looked like. But he was surprised it was you, who was his half sister."

"Why? What was he expecting?"

"He just thought you would be a lot bigger, because he tells me that your mom is about 5'10 and Neji is about 5'11 or so, and your dad is tall. So he just thought you would be taller and wider I guess. Its just your really small for your age, your like 5'3 and what 115 pounds at 17 years old?"

"Yeah, Sasuke said that I'm little for my age too.But anyway Neji was to what? Look out for me? Does my mom know that I left with Sasuke to travel out here? I thought she would have assumed I was kidnapped or something."

"No she saw the whole thing, but being the mother she is, she had faith in you, faith that you knew what you were doing. She always told Neji that when her little girls grew up at least one of them is bound to have that need to be a ninja instinct. Its in your blood. Even thought your last name is Haruno. Your apart of the Hyuga clan."

"Wow. So if Neji was six when I was born, if I am 17 then he is 23?"

"Yeah, he's older. He's five years older than me."

"Yeah but your still in dating rage of him."

"What? Why did you say that?"

"Because I think you and my brother look cute together."

"Well don't say anything but-" Turning to make sure no one was around, Tenten then spoke again to finish her sentence.

"I do like Neji a lot, but I am just worried he doesn't like me back. I have had the biggest crush on him since forever."

"Well I'm sure he likes you. I mean why wouldn't he? You're gorgeous!"

"Thanks. But I just don't know with him. So what about you and Sasuke?"

"Sasuke? Well, I have to admit I really do like him. I have been with him for almost a year. Its just every time I get separated from him I feel sad and I have butterflies every time he touches me. I think I love him, but I don't think he has those feelings for me. And I'm scared some other girl is gonna end up taking him away from me."

"Oh I think Sasuke does have feelings for you, because its just the way he acts around you. I have met him a couple of times traveling with Neji and I have never seen him act so nice to anyone. Usually he is quiet and just says 'hn' to answer someone. I remember a long time about a year ago some blonde haired girl was following him. She was like madly in love with him. He didn't even touch or look at her the same way he does for you. I think Sasuke does like you maybe even love you."

This caused Sakura to blush. She wondered what it would be like to be with Sasuke romantically. The two girl started to talk and carry on about different things.

**xXx**

_**With Neji, Sasuke, and Rock Lee…..**_

Neji walked through the woods with Sasuke and Rock Lee a little ways behind him. He stopped once he came to a river. He remained silent as if he was thinking about something.

"Sasuke." Neji said without taking his eyes off of the river.

"Hn?" Sasuke said to ask 'what'.

"Where did you find her? Did you take her from the castle?" Neji asked wondering.

"Well, when I was around Konoha one day, a group of guards tried to arrest me, thinking I was Itachi. Because we do look alike and have the same last name. I didn't want to be like Itachi so I didn't try to hurt them, I fled, into the castle to try and escape. I ended up getting caught and Sakura freed me. She made a deal that since she freed me, I would help her get away from the castle. And so I ended up coming back for her. And now she travels with me."

"So just because she helped you, you saw the need to bring her out here? What if she was to get hurt? I may have just meet her but she's my half sister. And every time I go and visit my mother, she is sad because she is constantly worrying about her daughter and I hate to see my mother like that."

"Well Neji she's fine and you can tell your mother that, if you want you can take Sakura to visit her as well." Sasuke said remembering that Sakura was still a little sore from the attack of Itachi. But its not like it was seriously bad. He only hoped something like that wouldn't happen again.

"Neji if you are that worried about her then your sister could travel with us. Me, you, and Tenten could watch over her." Rock Lee said smiling.

"I'm not stupid. All you want is to flirt with her. And I don't like that thought of you with your hands on her. And Sasuke I know you have feelings for her too." Neji simply said.

"I see her as a friend, Neji. Of course I feel a stronger connection to her than anyone else but that's because I have been with her for almost a year now. She's a friend nothing more." Sasuke lied.

"I saw the way you grabbed her hand back there before we left. I saw the way you looked at her. I know you are my ally, but you better keep your hands off of her. She's not for you. You two are totally different people." Neji started.

"Why do you say that?" Sasuke questioned.

"She's a princess. She's innocent. Sure she can fight but she is clean of a criminal record. She is cheerful and nice, as my mother tells me. You are a criminal or at least people think you are because of your brother. You have fought and injured many . You are not of royal blood. You can't complete her. She can't complete you. You are not to be with her." Neji finished.

Sasuke sighed as he hated to hear Neji say the facts that were indeed true. _Neji is right, I can't be with Sakura even though I do have feelings for her. She is way to good for me. She deserves someone way better than me. And if she was to get hurt again then I don't know what I would do. She really means a lot to me and I don't know why she has gotten to my heart so good, but she has and I guess if I really love her, I should let her go, I should let her go to stay and travel with Neji or take her back to the castle. _

"Neji, I think we should be getting back it's getting really dark and we need to find out where the girls have set up camp at." Rock Lee said after almost being quiet the entire time.

"Yeah, come on." Neji said walking off with the other two men walking behind him.

**xXx**

_**With Sakura and Tenten….**_

The two female ninjas sat as they watched the fire, Sakura was thinking about her and Sasuke and if they would ever be together. Tenten was thinking about Neji. As they were thinking the two heard footsteps and it was the guys. Sasuke sat right next to Sakura as if doing it to irritate Neji. Neji sat next to Tenten, while Lee sat on the other side of Neji.

"So how was your walk?" Sakura asked looking at Sasuke.

"Fine." Sasuke said as he looked into Sakura's eyes. He couldn't help but think of what Neji said. _Neji isn't trying to be mean, he is just saying the obvious. I don't think Sakura needs someone like me, she needs so much better. She's just way to good for me. I do love her but if I really love her I will do what is best for her._

"Sasuke?" The pink haired ninja asked, seeing that he was just starring at her.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Sasuke shook his head to say it was nothing. Neji who was watching them, figured that Sasuke was thinking about what he had said to him. It grew silent so Neji spoke to break it.

"Sakura, would you like to see mom soon?"Neji asked with a soft voice.

As if seeming to cheer her up instantly she smiled and said, "Sure. When can we see her? It's been so long since I have seen mom."

"We can head out tomorrow, just me and you and go to see her." Neji said.

"Can Sasuke come?" The princess asked looking over at Sasuke to see if he was giving any kind of emotion.

"Well it can let us get to know each other, since we have never really met before." Neji said.

"Well…okay that sounds fun." The female said. **(Okay, I know Neji is acting weird, but this is my story and I am not trying to make everyone act like they usually do, cuz people have been saying Sasuke acts weird and I know but hey I like the way he acts in the story and I don't know how Neji would act toward his sister, if he had one, lets just say I don't know a lot about Neji so bear with me. I just think Neji would be nicer to his sister and stuff. So yeah and he's a little protective of her, he doesn't want her to get hurt cuz Neji in this story hates to see his mom sad, so if Sakura is sad then the mom is sad. So yeah.)**

"Well its getting really late, so I think we should all get to sleep." Tenten said as she began to pull blankets out of her bag.

"Yeah. I'm tired." Lee said grabbing a blanket Tenten had passed down for him.

Because they only had two blankets Lee had one and Tenten and Neji shared one. Tenten looked over to see if Sakura and Sasuke had one and when she saw Sakura pull one out she closed her eyes as she leaned her back against the tree behind her as well as Neji and Lee did that same. Sakura began to lean her head on Sasuke's shoulder as she dozed off.

**xXx**

_**Midnight…**_

Sakura woke up to cold wind blowing on her face. She opened her green eyes, to see Tenten, Neji, and Lee all leaned against a tree asleep. The fire was still burning bright, it seems someone had just put new fire wood on it. But then she noticed Sasuke was gone. She let her eyes adjust to the dark as she stood up to see if he was close to the camp. He was no where in sight.

_Where is he? Please tell me he didn't leave. He wouldn't do that to me. At least I hope not, I better go look for him…_

Sakura wrapped the blanket her and Sasuke had shared around her small frame. She then began to walk out into the dark woods. She used her ninja skills to see is she could sense him. She felt nothing, he wasn't in that close of a rage to her.

The female ninja kept walking for about 10 minutes when she felt it. It was Sasuke. She began heading in that direction for about 3 minutes and there he was. Sitting on a rock next to a river. It was where Neji, Sasuke, and Lee had been earlier.

"Sasuke?" Her voice came soft and beautifully.

"Hn?" He said without turning around.

"What are you doing out here?" Sakura said while coming to sit next to him and looking at his face to see if she could see any emotion for him at all. Nothing.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Oh. You scared me. When I woke up I thought maybe that you had left me or something."

_No, I would never leave you, or at least want to…_Sasuke thought.

"No."

"Are you okay? It seems you have been different ever since you came back from being with Neji and Lee."

"I'm fine."

The girl sighed. She hated it when he lied to her. She knew there was something wrong with him and she thought he would find it okay to tell her these things. She just turned her gaze to look at the river. Fireflies glowed green all around them, the sound of bugs were all around them.

"Don't lie to me."

Sakura didn't take her eyes away from the river, even when Sasuke turned to look at her. He noticed she looked sad as if pained he wasn't telling her what was on his mind. He felt guilty making her sad.

"Sakura listen. It's just complicated."

The boy reached his hand out and grabbed her arm gently. This caused her to look at him. He starred at her green eyes but turned away. He started to speak again.

"How is your shoulder?"

"It's okay. There is still a mark though."

"Let me see."

Sasuke turned his body to face her. He reached for her left shoulder and pulled down the sleeve where he could see it. There was a large mark where the wound used to be. The mark would probably go away in a couple of days. He used his hand to lightly rub over it.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Itachi hurting you."

"It's okay I mean I was bound to get hurt someday anyway. It scared me though, I thought I was gonna die."

"It scared me too."

Sakura's eyes came up to met his, as if shocked he would say such a thing. She just starred at him as if waiting for him to say something else.

"You were scared? About me getting hurt?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. Of course. You see…" He said looking out at the river. "After losing all of my family, I have kinda distanced myself from ever getting close to someone again, because…"

Sasuke stopped as if he was scared to say how he really felt. Sakura figured that Sasuke had never talked about his feelings to anyone ever in his 19 years of life. Sakura smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Listen, you can tell me anything. I'm here for you, its okay to talk about your feelings, if you keep them locked up then it will destroy you from the inside out."

"I distanced myself from people because I was afraid….that I would lose them too. I didn't….think I could handle it…I had been through so much…I never wanted to feel the feeling of losing someone again."

"That's understandable. If I lost my family I would be same way, Sasuke. And so, when you had gotten close to me, you were afraid Itachi was going to take me away too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Don't be embarrassed. If something happened to you, I would cry and I don't know what else. I mean that's the reason I didn't tell Itachi anything about you, I couldn't stand the thought of you hurt, I would rather get hurt than see you hurt."

"That's the kind of attitude I was afraid of."

"What?"

"Listen, I can take a lot more damage than you can, I have been a ninja just about since birth, I can handle it, better than you can. I mean I know you aren't some weakling but when it comes to extreme ninjas like Itachi, let me handle them."

"Okay, I understand."

Sasuke admired her understanding. It just pained him inside that Neji didn't want him with her. He didn't care what Neji said. _I will take care of her. She is the happiest with me, or at least I hope. Im sure Neji would feel better if Sakura was with him but I am just as strong as Neji so I can protect her. I want to be with her…_

"So are you going to tell me what was bothering you? Before you changed the subject?"

"Huh?"

"Sasuke, you said its complicated but I want to know."

"Okay, its just Neji doesn't want you traveling with me anymore. He says, he's afraid you will get hurt and Neji says you can either travel with him or go back to the castle."

"What? No, I want to be with you. I will talk to Neji about it."

"No, don't. Neji is your older brother and I am sure he knows what is best for you."

"No, I hate it when people say that. I am the only one who knows what is best for me. And I think if I wasn't meant to travel with you, then god would never have let me get this far, everything happens for a reason."

"It's not that simple."

"Listen just don't worry about it. I'm staying with you."

"Hn."

"Come on, we have been out for a while, we better go and get some sleep."

"Okay."

With that Sasuke got up and helped Sakura up. As the two began to walk off toward the camp, Sakura unwrapped her blanket and wrapped Sasuke in it with her. Sasuke couldn't help but think.

_What am I going to do…Neji has been a good ally to me. But it would kill me to leave her. She's the only thing I have in this world. This is my internal conflict. I shouldn't have got her into this._ _She doesn't understand how complicated it is. Sure I have to agree with Neji she would be safer at the castle, but even though I know what would be best for her, I can't just leave her, it would haunt me for the rest of my life. I love her. Well until something happens she stays with me…. or at least I plan for her to stay…_

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**Well that's it, I hope you all liked the chapter, I told you it was pretty long. I didn't really mean for it to be that long but I just couldn't stop typing but anyway. PLZ REVIEW!! Review and tell me what you think.**

**love ya!**

**kikyothepriestess05!**


	12. Break the Ice

Well I hope you all loved the last chapter, wow things are getting intense huh Well I hope you all loved the last chapter, wow things are getting intense huh? Well anyway, here is the next chapter. I hope you all love it!! Just so you know this chapter is HOT!!

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Chapter 12: Break the Ice**

As morning came, the group began to wake up, Tenten and her group never knew that Sasuke and Sakura had gotten up during the night. As the group was getting up, Neji walked over to Sakura and began to speak.

"You better get ready, we are going to see mom today."

"Okay!"

The pink haired ninja got up and fixed her hair and grabbed a bottle of water and poured a little bit of water on a rag as she washed some dirt off of her bare skin. After her and Neji ate a bit of food with the group they were ready to go. Sasuke was worried that maybe this was a trick to take Sakura away. Neji may just leave Sakura at the castle and say that she decided to stay or something.

"Well we're off. We will be back at dark or so." Neji said walking off.

Sakura walked over to Sasuke, who was standing next to a tree, and hugged him. "Bye Sasuke."

"Bye…" He said hugging her back.

**xXx**

_**With Neji and Sakura…**_

The two were leaping from tree to tree. Sakura actually liked this form of travel, she was used to walking that it was fun to do something different. It keep you busy looking for another tree to jump too, instead of just boring old walking.

Sakura then started to think about last night. When Sasuke had been told to stay away from her by Neji. She thought as if she wanted to ask Neji about it or not. She soon concluded that she should go ahead and ask him about it. So she jumped closer to him until she was jumping from tree to tree right beside him and in hearing distance.

"Neji?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you tell Sasuke to stay away from me? You said something like I am not safe with him?"

"Here lets take a rest, as we walk for a little while." Neji said dropping from the tree tops onto a dirt road, followed by his half sister, Sakura.

"So answer my question." Sakura asked upon reaching the ground.

"Listen, its not like I'm trying to be mean or anything. Its just Sasuke has a lot to take care of. I mean he is chasing after his brother, Itachi. I don't know if you have already heard of him or whatever, but he is a very strong fighter and if you come in contact with him, then you could seriously get hurt."

Sakura remained quiet as she thought about what Neji had just said. _I should tell him I have already met Itachi and got attacked and look I'm okay, but then he would be like 'see, I knew it would happen' so I better just keep quiet._

"Yeah, but I can handle it."

"Sakura, I know you are close to Sasuke but maybe it would be better if you traveled with him after he has sorted out all of his business with his brother where you won't be in danger. Mom told me that if I ever found you out her to look out for you. I mean I would tell you stay away from Sasuke even if mom hadn't said to look out for you, because even though I have just met you I care about you, because you are my half sister."

"I care about you too, but I am the happiest with Sasuke. I am 17 and I think I can figure out what the best is for me."

"Well I'm 23 and I know how this ninja world really is, and you don't know what kind of mess your getting in, sis."

_Yes I do, I have been with Sasuke for almost a year and been attacked by Itachi, I am okay. I can to this, why does no one have faith in me, I'm just like him: apart of the Hyuga clan._

"I'm a good fighter just like you, my last name may be Haruno, but I'm apart of the Hyuga clan."

Neji let out a small laugh. He had to admit she was right. She was apart of the Hyuga clan, she is a good fighter but she isn't as experienced as Neji wanted her to be. He wanted her to be very experienced to being going after Itachi with Sasuke.

"Well okay, if that's what you really want fine by me, but you'll have to talk to mom about it and if she says okay then be my guest, stay with Sasuke."

Sakura smiled, she just knew her mother would understand. She was going to stay with Sasuke she just knew it.

"Now come on, now that we are done talking, let's pick up the pace." Neji said jumping back up into the trees, with the pink haired princess behind him.

**xXx**

_**At the Castle…**_

Neji and Sakura slowed down to a walk as they saw the castle come into view, they were on a back road that lead to the back of the castle, where the court yard was, the woods still hid them. As they kept walking they came to a spot where the trees were cleared and they came to a barred up fence keeping people from getting into the court yard of the castle. But there was a guard in sight. Sakura remember he was the one who was always on duty outside.

Neji whistled. The guard turned to look around and then saw Neji and Sakura and began walking over to them. The guard smiled.

"Hey Neji, it's been a while since you have came."

"I know. I have been busy."

As the guard was talking with Neji, he noticed Sakura standing beside him.

"Princess Sakura? You're okay? What are you doing here? We thought you got kidnapped?"

"No, she left the castle to become a ninja, she didn't want the whole princess life, but don't say anything to anyone." Neji said.

"Wow yall actually care that I went missing? I never even saw a group of guards out looking for me." Sakura said.

"Really? They have been out the entire time. What a shame. But anyway, I shall go get Queen Misao." The guard said walking off.

"If your wondering, that is John, the guard that is always on duty outside, I told him the story of how I'm Queen Misao's son and whenever I show up to visit our mother John goes to get her and we talk out here."

"Oh, I was wondering how you could see mom without coming into the castle. I just wonder how come she never told me about you."

"She was probably worried it would make you think it was okay to go traveling too, I see it didn't matter, you were crazy to get out of the castle anyway."

As the two were chatting, the guard soon exited the castle into the court yard with the queen behind him. Queen Misao was wearing a long royal blue dress that had certain parts pinned up here and there. She of course was wearing her diamond crown and beautiful jewelry. Her hair was down as it came down to reach her shoulders barely. She smiled as she saw Neji but was taken back when she saw her daughter.

"Sakura?" She asked, walking faster to the barred fence. Using a key, she opened a door that was right in front of Neji and Sakura, Sakura hadn't noticed it because it was barred just like the fence it was built into. Once the door was open the two entered as Sakura ran to give her mom a hug.

"Mom! I missed you so much!"

Misao hugged her back very tightly. A single tear coming to her eye.

"I am so happy that you're safe. I saw you leave with some raven haired boy but I was still worried something could have happened to you."

"No I have been fine, the boy I left with is Sasuke Uchiha, and he taught me how to be ninja and I can fight and stuff now. And yesterday we ended up running into Neji and I found out he's my half brother. How come you never told me about him?"

"It's just I knew how you were tomboyish and I was afraid you would want to leave and travel too, but I see I couldn't stop you from it. I was going to tell you when you got older of course. And wait did you say Sasuke Uchiha, wasn't that the boy who we caught in the castle trying to rob us?"

"Yeah, but he's really a nice guy. He has saved my life out in the wilderness." Sakura said remembering that man in the woods who almost killed her before she could fight.

"Neji, thank you so much for finding her and bringing her here." Misao said looking toward Neji as she walked over to give him a hug.

"I missed you Neji." Misao said hugging her son.

"I missed you too, Mom." Neji said hugging back.

"Hey mom where is Hinata? I want to see her so bad." Sakura said.

"Guard!" Queen Misao yelled.

The guard, named John, walked over to the group.

"Go and bring Princess Hinata out here, and if you are asked to what you are doing by other guards tell them you are not to tell by the orders of the Queen." Misao ordered.

But before the guard could leave, Sakura stopped him.

"Can you bring Naruto too?" She asked.

"Of course Lady Sakura." The guard said before walking off into the castle.

**xXx**

_**With Hinata and Naruto…**_

Hinata was trying on a new dress her mother had bought her. It was a light yellow and was pinned up at different spots. It was strapless and the top of the dress fitted her curves while the bottom of the dress was puffy. (Who know how all princess dress are like bigger and flowing and stuff…)

"What do you think Naruto?" Hinata asked while she was still looking in the mirror at herself in the dress.

"It looks wonderful on you, but then again anything looks wonderful on you. You wanna know why?" Naruto asked.

Hinata turned her back toward the mirror to look at Naruto she smiled as she asked, "Why?"

"Because you're the most gorgeous girl in the world, and you can make anything look pretty."

Hinata smiled as she lightly pushed him.

"Oh whatever, Naruto."

"Well it's true." Naruto said as he walked back over to her and wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her. The two were really getting into it when a knock came at the door.

"Who is it?" Hinata asked still standing next to Naruto with her hands around his neck and his around her waist.

"It is John, the guard of the court yard, Queen Misao wishes for me to escort you and Naruto to the courtyard to have a word with her."

"Well, if it's for mother then alright."

The door opened as Hinata and Nartuo walked out and began to follow the guard to the courtyard.

Naruto grabbed onto Hinata's hand as they were walking. The two looked so cute holding hands. They looked truly happy together. Hinata held up the front of her dress as they went down the steps leading to the courtyard. As they reached the bottom of the steps, Hinata looked up to see a couple of people around her mother in the very far corner of the courtyard.

As the guard escorted Naruto and Hinata over to them, Hinata then realized one of the people with her mother was Sakura. Hinata smiled as she picked up the front of her dress as she started to run over to her sister.

"Sakura!"

"Hinata!"

The two twins hugged each other and as they parted they held each others hand, and as the pink haired twin was about to talk, it seemed as the breathe was taken right out of her, because she felt some kind of jewel on her sister's finger.

Being curious she pulled Hinata's hand up to her face to see a beautiful diamond ring. Sakura was almost speechless.

"Are you engaged?" She asked.

"Yes." Hinata said smiling, "I wanted to tell you so bad, but you were gone, so I couldn't."

"Well, who is it? Who is the lucky guy getting to marry you?" Sakura asked.

"It's me." Naruto said walking beside his finance and wrapping an arm around her.

The pink haired princess just stood as if she was frozen or something. She raised her eye level from Hinata's face up to Naruto's. For a minute she just starred at him but then she smiled.

"You finally got up enough courage to propose to her? Well way to go Naruto!" Sakura said smiling.

"Wait. Did you know Naruto had feelings for me?" Hinata asked confused.

"Yeah of course I knew, he had told me that a long time ago but he was just too scared to say something." Sakura said.

"Oh." Hinata said now understanding.

As Hinata began to look around, she noticed a man standing over next to her mother. He had long black hair and white eyes, just like her. But why was this guy talking with her mother.

"Sakura, who is that?" Hinata asked pointing toward the man talking with their mom. Sakura turned to see who her sister was talking about only to see Neji talking to her mom.

"That's Neji, he is our half brother." Sakura said.

"What?" Hinata asked confused once again.

"Hey mom you want to tell Hinata the story about how Neji is our half brother?" The female ninja called over to her mom.

"Sure."

The Queen, Misao told Hinata and Naruto about how she was of the Hyuga clan and how she had met Neji's father and gave birth to Neji and so on. We all know the whole story.

**xXx**

_**A little while later…**_

"And that's the whole story." Misao said finishing the story.

"Wow, I never knew I had a half brother." Hinata said eyeing Neji.

"I know and you and Neji look just alike." Misao said.

"Yeah I was thinking the same thing." Sakura said.

"Well it's getting late, Sakura we need to get back." Neji said.

"Okay." Sakura said as she walked over to Hinata.

"I will miss you, take care, Hinata." The pink haired girl said.

Hinata hugged her twin sister as she said, "Just be careful at out there and I will miss you too, and come back to see me really soon."

"I will, I didn't tell you I am a ninja now, did I?"

"No, you're a ninja now? I am so happy for you, your dreams have come true for you." Hinata said smiling at her sister.

Sakura turned to Naruto and said. "Bye Naruto and you two better not have the wedding with out me, I will come back soon and ya'll better give me a date so I can come back for it."

"Sure thing." The blonde said back.

Sakura said goodbye to her mom, while Hinata was saying goodbye to Neji. As they said farewell, Sakura and Neji left out of the courtyard.

**xXx**

_**Back With Tenten and Lee…**_

Tenten and Lee made a fire as the sun was going down. Once the fire had started, the two friends sat down leaning against the same tree. Tenten grabbed a blanket and covered her and her friend. Sasuke had gone out for a walk and hadn't come back yet.

"I wonder when Neji and Sakura will be back." Tenten asked.

"I don't know. I guess anytime now."

"I just can't believe Neji found his sister. I thought with our luck we would never chance to run into her. It's kinda funny a while back I met her in a hot spring and we talked and I never thought that was Neji's half sister."

"Yeah, she doesn't really look like Neji, but she sure is pretty. I wish she would be my girlfriend."

"Hey, if anyone, I think Sakura is gonna end up with Sasuke."

"Why him? Neji doesn't like that idea."

"Oh, why?"

Lee started to recall the conversation he had heard between Sasuke and Neji a while ago.

**xXx**

_**With Sakura and Neji…**_

"Hey Neji, we forgot to ask mom about Sasuke." Sakura said as she and her half brother were getting closer to camp. Neji only looked toward her and began to speak.

"While you were talking to Hinata, I asked mom."

"Really what did she say?"

Neji sighed as if he was pained to tell her the answer. Sakura was worried as to what Neji was going to say.

"She said you can stay with him but that I need to check up on you a lot."

"Yay! I knew she would understand." Sakura said smiling.

With the good news Sakura picked up her pace ready to tell Sasuke that they could still travel together.

**xXx**

_**With Tenten and Lee…**_

Lee had just got done telling Tenten the story about what he heard between Neji and Sasuke, when Sakura and Neji showed up. Tenten smiled seeing Neji.

"Hey, bout time you got back." She said.

"Well, it took longer that I thought." Neji said simply taking a seat next to the other side of Tenten. Sakura took a look around to see no Sasuke. She had a puzzled looked on her face, that Tenten seemed to notice.

"If you're looking for Sasuke, he said he went to go take a walk and he hasn't come back yet." Tenten informed her.

"Oh thanks, I guess I'll go look for him." Sakura said onward to traveling again.

**xXx**

_**With Sakura and Sasuke….**_

It was dark outside and Sakura guessed it was about eight or nine. Sakura was very tired but she had to find Sasuke because that was the only thing important to her. She took a guess to go to the river where she had found him before. And the female ninja had guessed right.

"Sasuke?" She said looking at him sitting on a rock next to the river with his feet in the water.

Without a word he turned around to see Sakura standing behind him with a smile, he figured that her day had been a good one. Then his thoughts began to wander.

_Wow, Sakura looks so beautiful, everyday it seems like she just grows in beauty. I love how the glow of the moon falls over her face and hair._

Sakura sat next to him as she let out a sigh.

"Are you tired?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I have been running all day and when I got back to the campsite I had to come find you. So yes I am very tired."

Sakura took off her shoes and like Sasuke, stuck her two feet into the river. Sakura sighed as she felt relaxed. The cool water felt like it refreshed her or at least her feet.

"Wow I'm covered in dirt." Sakura said looking down at her arm and hands and legs. Sakura then began to think, she had tights under her red suite, she had a tight tank top too so she could take a dip in the water.

Sakura stood up and began to pull up her red garment. Sasuke, trying to be a gentlemen, attempted to turn away as her tank top came up to show her stomach, but he couldn't turn away. Her stomach was flat and he never realized how many curves she had. Being a guy it teased his hormones.

_Wow, she has a really good figure. I never knew she had so good looking curves, she always wore that red garment and that never stuck to her body or hugged her curves. God I just want to grab her and pin her down..what I will not take advantage of her…I guess I should take more control of myself…._

Sakura dropped her red garment to the ground and fixed her tank top as she bent over to take off her shoes. Once they were off she began to step into the water. Sasuke could only stare at her body, the tights and the tank top that were both black and hugged her skin.

The water began to get deeper as she walked further out, because it was late, fog had began to sit on top of the water and watching Sakura with the fog and everything, just blew Sasuke away.

Once out where the water came just below her chest, she bent her legs and dipped her head underwater. Sasuke had a couple of seconds to regain himself, when he saw Sakura raise back up, as she quickly threw her head back as her hair flipped back over behind her head, where it belonged.

Sakura then used both of her hands to mess with her hair looking for clumps of dirt that had now became mud. Because her hands were in her hair, her tank top raised up to show her stomach once again. Sakura knew her tank top was showing her stomach but it didn't bother her, the only person around was Sasuke and she didn't care if he would see, she only hoped he would enjoy it.

While over on the shore, Sasuke sat and watched Sakura out in the water, with her stomach showing and skin tight clothes on and all the fog around her.

"Oh my god." Sasuke said still looking over Sakura's body. He was amazed and he couldn't help but just want her more and more.

Sakura looked toward Sasuke as she was about to dunk her head again, she smiled and said.

"Sasuke come out here, the water feels great."

Sasuke remained with an emotionless face but smiled on the inside. He then began to take of his shirt and shoes, as he whisper to himself where Sakura couldn't hear, "I thought you would never ask."

Sasuke walked out closer to Sakura not caring that his pants were getting wet. But right before he got there Sakura dunked her head under quickly and came back up to see Sasuke right next to her. She had never seen him like this, she could almost think he was smirking at her, and his smirks always made her melt.

"Doesn't the water feel good?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah…" Sasuke still said almost hypnotized by his female traveling partner.

"Have you lost weight?" Sasuke asked coming closer to Sakura. "I always knew you were small but not this small."

"Well I don't think so, but I could still lose a couple of pounds." She said placing two hands on her small stomach.

Sasuke reached and grabbed her hands and pushed them off of her stomach, in a kind of aggressive forceful way. Sakura liked it, she loved it when men were aggressive, in a loving way.

"No, your perfect." He said looking deep into her eyes, Sakura only starred back into his deep dark eyes.

"You don't ever need to change," he smirked at her, sending a chill through Sakura's body, "I have never seen a more beautiful woman than you." His voice low, deep, and seductive.

This made Sakura's eyes widen. _Is Sasuke okay? He has never ever ever ever acted like this, its like he's under a spell, but I have to admit I really love it. I just want to kiss him so bad…_

Sasuke moved even closer to her, now the water was right under Sakura's chest and a couple of inches lower than that on Sasuke because he was a couple of inches taller.

Sasuke moved closer and closer until he felt Sakura's body against his. It just teased him more feeling her stomach as well as her breasts were against his body.

Sasuke's hands grabbed the pink haired girl's love handles. (just incase you don't know what those are, its her sides, you know toward your lower stomach, its nothing nasty even though it sounds like it and I promise nothing too sexually will go on this is rated T.)

Sasuke was pleased when her heard Sakura gasp, he could tell she was excited. He began to lower his head down near hers, he smirked as he heard Sakura breathing a little fast.

"Are we nervous?" He asked smirking at her, his face was only a couple of inches away from hers, seeing him smirk so close to her face made her body feel like jello.

Sasuke, still holding onto her sides, pulled her closer. He moved his face closer to hers, he smirked as he heard a light moan escape from Sakura's lips as his lips met hers. He slid his tongue to lick at her licks, Sakura, excited, opened her mouth to let him in.

Their tongues met and Sakura deepened the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Sasuke felt relived when he felt her deepen the kiss, knowing that she was into it as well, he let his hands wander over her body. His hands rubbed over her small stomach, and then went to rub over her back too.

Sakura made a little noise while still kissing Sasuke, to show she liked what his hands where doing. The kiss lasted for about almost a minute when Sasuke pulled away and looked guilty.

He pulled his body away from hers. Sakura who only wanted more, looked confused. Sasuke acted like he was embarrassed and turned his face away from Sakura's eye contact.

"Sorry." His calm voice came.

"What?"

"I just threw myself on you."

Sakura could almost think she saw Sasuke blush.

"Is that all?" Sakura asked smiling.

"Hn." Sasuke said meaning 'yes'. He still looked embarrassed.

"Look, its okay. If I didn't want you to do that, I would have tried to fight you off."

Sasuke began to realize she was basically saying she wanted him to do that. Sakura wanted to make the move this time, she moved over to him. She wanted to tease him back into his aggressive side so she pulled her tank top down a little to show the top of her breasts as she moved over to him.

"Then don't hold your feelings in, you can do anything you want to me."

This made him grow hungry for more from the girl. He did have feelings for her. He always had, he didn't know why, it wasn't like him but he loved her, but he wasn't going to tell her that much yet.

Sakura wrapped her arms around his waist, as he began to look her over. It tempted him so bad when he saw the top of her breasts, and not only that she was pressing them up against him. He smiled as he saw Sakura smiling up to him.

Sasuke grabbed her sides and began kissing her. His tongue found its way to hers as they deepened the kiss. Sasuke's hands rubbed all over her stomach, his hands began to work their way up toward her chest but stopped.

Sakura pulled her lips a little way from his as she said, "Its okay, you can touch them. I told you, that you could anything to me."

Sakura grabbed his hand that was resting beneath her chest, she slowly moved his hand up to where it made contact with her breasts. Once his hand was there she brought her hands back to rest around his neck.

Sasuke brought his other hand to rest on her chest. As his hands wander over those, they were still kissing. The kiss lasted to be about as long as the first one. After the kiss the two moved over to a rock close to the shore opposite where they had come from. The rock was wide enough and long enough for them to lay on. The rock was slanted halfway into the water so only the top part showed on Sasuke as he layed with his back against the rock.

Sakura layed down with her back against the rock next to Sasuke. Sasuke didn't like the space between them and he was feeling a little bit cold without her body heat. He decided to change their position.

"Come here." His cold and seductive voice came. Sakura, didn't want to resist, so she got up and layed on top of him. Sasuke smirked when she did this, basically saying he was happy now.

"Sakura…"

"Hm?"

Sasuke had his right hand in her hair as he looked her in the eyes. He loved her eyes, they were just so different from everyone else's. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how good his girl looked covered in water droplets running down her body. He used the hand resting in her hair to pull her forehead to touch his.

"I love you."

Sasuke smirked as he felt her body miss a breath, it was like a wave of shock was going through her body, he could tell she was taken by surprise. Sakura pulled her head away from his to look him in the eyes.

"I love you too."

Sasuke kissed her, their hands going all over each other's body. As the kiss settled down, Sakura looked Sasuke in the eyes and began to speak.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Anything."

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise."

"The real reason I wanted to travel with you is because, I thought you were the most gorgeous man I had ever seen, and I wanted to become a ninja to impress you and to protect you if you ever got hurt and needed someone."

"So if I would have never met you, you would be happy in the castle right now?"

"Well I still would have wanted to get out and travel but not necessary wanting to be a ninja though."

"Well can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"Promise you won't laugh?"

Sakura smiled as she noticed Sasuke was mocking her.

"I promise." Sakura said.

"Well the only reason I came back for you is because I thought you looked like a goddess and I felt that there was something about you, that no other girl had."

The two kissed once again. Sasuke's hands ran over Sakura's small stomach and up to her chest. Sakura ran her left hand through Sasuke's hair and her right hand grabbed Sasuke's side.

As their tongues explored each other's mouths, Sasuke deepened the kiss by pulling Sakura down to enclose the space between their bodies. Sakura let out a light moan as she felt her body instantly warmed by his body heat.

The two parted from the kiss as Sakura turned over to rest her back again Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke place his hands on her hips. Sakura place her hands on top of his. Both of them were facing the night sky full of stars.

"Its beautiful." Sakura said admiring the sky.

"Not as beautiful as you." Sasuke said as he kissed the back of her neck.

"Neji said I could stay with you."

"Well good because after all of this you wouldn't be leaving me."

Sasuke squeezed Sakura's side as he sucked on the back on her neck for a little while to leave a hicky. (a little dark spot that looks like a bruise.) Sakura enjoyed his touch as thoughts began to run through her head.

_I can't believe all of this just happened. I never EVER would have thought Sasuke would act like this, I always thought that if he had feelings for me he would just tell me he loved me and kiss me and then go on with our lives but this is was so much better than what I had dreamed of. I didn't even mean to tease him I was just washing myself off. But I am so glad I did now. But its like Sasuke's emotions were under ice and I had to pull certain things to break that ice and let his emotions out. Maybe it was the water we are in. Maybe that melted the ice. Haha…but I guess breaking his ice is the best thing I have ever done….I love you Sasuke Uchiha…_

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Well I hoped you all loved it and I know Sasuke was totally out of character but this was the seductive Sasuke..lol..but anyway...this chapter was pretty hot and steamy huh? Well if you like it you better review, even if you haven't been so far just go ahead and review..man I worked on this one, but not to hard, I mean I got a boyfriend so yeah..i didn't really have to think of things for them to do..lol. **

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05 **


	13. Game of Rivals

**Well I hope you all loved the last chapter. Well here we go with another chapter. The story is really getting heated up huh? Well anyway here's the next chapter I hope you all love it!!**

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Chapter 13: Game of Rivals**

In the morning, Neji and his group began packing up their things as did Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was still shocked by last night's events. Even though she was so happy, she tried to act normal in front of her brother, Tenten, and Lee.

"Well I guess we are heading out." Neji said as his team had finished packing.

"Yeah, but next time you go to see mom, come find me so I can go too." Sakura said to her brother.

He smiled and nodded his head as if saying 'yes.' Tenten ran and gave Sakura a hug and Sakura hugged her back. But as the two parted, Lee grabbed Sakura's hands and held them in his.

"If you ever need someone to love you, I'm your man." He said with stars in his eyes.

Sasuke used his left hand to push Lee away from her. Lee, getting the message, let go of Sakura's hands and flashed her a smile.

"I'll always be here for you." Lee said walking off to join Neji and Tenten. Tenten was smiling because she was amused to see Sasuke push Lee away. She picked it up quick that Sasuke did have feelings for Sakura.

"Bye Sakura! Bye Sasuke!" Tenten called as she followed Neji and Lee further into the woods.

**xXx**

_**About 3 hours later….**_

Sasuke took the time to train Sakura even more. He was teaching her to have better reflexes to punches and kicks. Sasuke threw punches and kicks and so far Sakura was dodging them perfectly.

This is when he was attracted the most to Sakura, when she was concentrated on her senses and her face held a serious face. A few sweat drops were coming down her forehead. Even though she was out of breath, she kept her breathing very low where Sasuke could barely hear her. This is when she looked like a full-fledged ninja and he liked that.

He kept on throwing everything he could at her. She had gotten really good because it looked like it just about came natural to her, dodging all of his stunts. They had been going like this for about 30 minutes straight. These two were incredibility in shape.

Then Sasuke finally stopped. Sakura lowered her arms down to her sides. Sasuke nodded to her to say 'very good' and he began to turn away from her, but right as he did, he moved godly fast to throw a surprise punch at her. His punch only met with the air as Sakura cleanly dodged it. Sasuke looked to find her face smiling back at him.

"I thought I would have got you with that one." Sasuke said.

"I'm better than what you give me credit for."

"Yeah, I noticed that today. You must learn really fast."

"Hyuga, remember?"

"Oh yeah. God, I just can't get used to you being one."

"Yeah, yeah. I know I don't look like one. Pink hair, green eyes."

"Well, you wouldn't look right with black hair and white eyes. But what I can say is that you're the most beautiful Hyuga I have ever seen."

Sakura smiled as Sasuke came close to her and kissed her. Sakura kissed him back. Sakura pulled back looking him up an down.

"We might want to go wash off, we both have dirt all over us."

"Sure, lets go...you do mean together right?"

"Sure, you wash my back, I wash yours." Sakura laughed.

**xXx**

_**In a nearby hot spring…**_

"Ahh…" Sakura said as she had just dunked her head under the hot water. She used her hands to mess around in her hair looking for clumps of mud. Sasuke was doing the same. It took Sakura about 10 minutes to just wash her long hair, as Sasuke only took about 5 minutes because his hair was kind of long.

"Did I miss anything in my hair?" Sakura asked.

"Well come here."

Sakura made her way over to Sasuke, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Because she was shorter (Their feet could touch the bottom of the spring.) he looked at the top of her head and saw nothing but pink.

"You're good."

"Okay, you can let me go now. I have to finish washing myself."

"What if I want to do it?"

Sakura could only laugh. She smiled and nodded.

_I'm gonna love this. I always kind of imagined this…_

**xXx**

_**About 2 hours later…**_

Sakura sat next to the fire, looking at Sasuke who was putting more wood on the fire. The pink haired ninja sat with a blanket tightly around her because she was still a little wet from the hot spring. She looked down at her hands, _Maybe I shouldn't have stayed in there that long, my hands are all wrinkled. I guess me and Sasuke were having too much fun…_(And for some of you people wondering they didn't have sex..lol)

As Sasuke finished he went to sit next to Sakura. He placed both of his arms around her. She rested her head against his strong chest. She smiled at how her life had really changed in the last year or so, she wondered what month it was now.

"What month is it?"

"Hmm? Why do you want to know that?"

"Well I just wondering how close it is to my birthday. I'm gonna be 18 soon."

"When's your birthday?"

"March 28th."

"Well I guess it's about March or so. We will come to another town in about a day or so we can check it there in a hotel or somewhere that has a calendar."

"Oh ok, if I missed my birthday, I am gonna be so mad. When is your birthday?"

"July 23rd."

"And you'll be…21?"

"Yeah."

"I can't believe we have almost been traveling together for a year."

"Yeah…"

"Well get your sleep and we will head out tomorrow, looking for Itachi."

"Okay. Night, love you."

Sasuke pulled her close, "Night. Love you too."

**xXx**

_**The next day…**_

Sakura yawned as she walked beside Sasuke along a dirt road. The two had gotten up before dawn and had started walking. The princess guessed it was about seven or eight in the morning by the location of the sun in the sky.

Sakura walked closer to Sasuke, where she could grab his hand in hers. Sasuke only looked at her and smiled. Sakura looked to the sky only to see trees and an opening every now and then that showed the sky and the sun. She had really gotten to like the woods. She had been traveling in them for so long she had just gotten used to it.

While Sakura was busy looking around, a rather familiar person popped out of nowhere. A blond haired girl had jumped out of a tree to stand right in front of Sasuke and Sakura. It was Ino. Sakura could only smile as she thought,

_I was waiting for her to show up, now I can show her that she lost, Sasuke is in love with me, we are even holding hands. I can't wait to finally get her off my back with the whole 'Sasuke likes me more!!' thing. Gosh i hated it when she would say that._

"Sasuke, baby! It's been awhile!" Ino called only looking at Sasuke's face.

"Hey, don't call him baby!" Sakura yelled back at her.

Ino's innocent face expression faded as she looked toward Sakura. Her face then showed anger. And of course as hotheaded and cocky as Ino is, she couldn't stand Sakura saying this to her.

"I can call him anything I want and besides now one bosses around Ino, especially when you are short and weak."

"I can beat you any day! I had to save you from Kin!"

"Whatever!"

"Well whatever, Sasuke is my boyfriend so back off!"

Sasuke only watched as the two started to argue. He liked how Sakura stood her ground, and the fact that no one could insult her and get away without a fight. He liked her strength. He smiled as he remembered she was like this even before she could fight.

"Sasuke is not your boyfriend! He just feels sorry for you and doesn't want you to get hurt out here, so he protects you!"

"Oh really? Just ask Sasuke yourself."

Ino only had anger toward Sakura, but when she turned to look at Sasuke, she smiled a cocky smile and used or rather tried to sound sexy.

"Now, Sasuke you're not really dating this push over of a girl now are you?"

"Yeah, I'm in love with her." Sasuke said.

Ino just looked at him as her eyes widened up. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. Sakura smiled. _Yes, victory is mine! But wait I have to finish her off!!_

Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck and kissed him. Sasuke then put his arms around her waist and kissed her back.

Ino couldn't take it.

"AHHHH!!"

**xXx**

_**With Shikamaru and Chouji..**_

The two ninjas were jumping from tree to tree looking for Ino, who had once again ran off looking for Sasuke up ahead. They knew the only reason she ever disappeared away from them was because Sasuke was near. Even though she was a hotheaded, cocky, and stuck up 16 year old, they had to give her credit for being a very good tracker, or at least when it came to Sasuke.

The two were traveling in the way they had last seen Ino when they heard her scream.

"AHHHH!!"

They were right above the scream, so they both dropped down to the ground to see, Sasuke and Sakura pulling apart from what looked like a kiss, and Ino sitting on the ground with her knees up in front of her. They could only see the back of her head.

Shikamaru walked around to where he could see Ino's eyes were widen open and her mouth was open. She looked like she was shocked to an extreme.

Chouji walked to Ino's side as he began to shake her, "Ino?"

Shikamaru glared at Sasuke. Shikamaru didn't really like Sasuke. Shikamaru secretly liked Ino, and he hated how she always ran to Sasuke, when he doesn't even like her and he always pushed her off. Shikamaru just wanted Ino to himself.

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing, I was just showing her who really won Sasuke's heart! Me!" Sakura said smiling.

Shikamaru only glared at Sasuke, he knew he had been the one to make her this way. _Ino may be cocky and rude but he shouldn't mess with her feelings like this…if only Sasuke knew had bad I want Ino to jump at me, like she does, or did for Sasuke._

"Sasuke just do me a favor, leave Ino alone!" Shikamaru called.

"What did I do? Nothing, and besides would you want me to be with her, because I know you like her, so I'm doing you a favor so now that she gave up on me, she can like you." Sasuke said, knowing Shikamaru had some kind of feelings for Ino.

Ino was still in a daze and wasn't paying attention to the guys talk. She couldn't even hear Chouji calling her name, or even feel him shaking her by the shoulders.

Shikamaru only glared at Sasuke. He soon turned away and looked at Chouji who was still shaking Ino, trying to get her to snap out of it.

"Chouji, pick Ino up and let's go."

"Alright."

The two soon leaped away with Shikamaru in the lead and Chouji, carrying Ino, following behind him. After the group was out of the area, Sakura began to speak.

"Shikamaru likes Ino?"

"Oh yeah. Trust me if you know them as long as I have, you can tell over time."

"Well good, they can go and be together."

"Well since she slowed us down, lets get a running start this time."

"Okay, sounds good to me!"

**xXx**

_**Hours later…**_

The ninjas had traveled hours, with no break. Sakura was so tired. It was just about night, the sun was starting to go down. They had ran some ways then walked and ran some more, and so on.

"Are we almost to this town?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, if you look really hard then you can see where the forest ends, and about a little ways out is where the town is."

"Good, I can't wait to be able to sleep in a bed again. Last time I slept in a bed I was in pain."

Sasuke felt horrible remembering the last time they went into a town, he had left Sakura for too long and she wandered out and ran into Itachi and got attacked. Sasuke squeezed Sakura's hand in his as they had been holding hands. The female ninja looked up to wonder what was up with him.

"Just promise me you won't wander off like you did that other time."

"I won't." The girl said carefree.

"You don't think I'm serious do you?"

"Yeah, I guess you are."

Sasuke stopped walking and used his hands to grab both of his girlfriend's arms, turining her to face him.

"You just don't realize how bad that scared me."

"I'm sorry!"

Sasuke's expression softened. He shook his head as if he was gaining control of himself.

"I didn't mean to freak you out. It's just you don't realize how much I love you, I loved you even when you got attacked and it scared me so bad."

"No the real thing is that you don't realize how much I love you."

"Hell. I love you more than you love me."

Sakura laughed. "Whatever, I have been crazy over you since the very first day I met you on the streets."

"Well I loved you too, but I can just hold my feelings in better than what you can."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Whatever!"

"Well come on let's get into town."

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Well I hope you all liked the chapter…I know it was one of the ones that weren't so good, but next chapter things start to pick back up and then so on so plz just stick with me and yeah I know this chapter was kind of short….but don't worry more is to come.**

**love ya!**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	14. Blackout

**Well sorry if the last chapter sucked but this one is a lot better this is where everything changes course. I'd say this is one of the most shocking parts of the whole story. And its sad. But this is one of the very high points of the story. So please enjoy and feel free to cry -- that is if your emotional…and if so then get tissues..I'm just kidding it's not that bad..i guess.**

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Chapter 14: Blackout **

As the two entered the town, Sakura wore a head garment over her head because her father still didn't know that she wasn't kidnapped, so he still had guards out looking for her and since they were still close to the castle it was a good idea to keep covered.

The princess followed her ninja through the streets. She guess he was looking for an inn. She knew she had guessed right when he entered a place called, 'Travels' Inn'.

As we came into the building, I saw to the left of the door we came through, there was a counter with a clerk behind it and to the right were three tables -- where random people, staying in the inn, could buy a drink and sit down.

Everyone turned to look at the couple as they walked in. Sasuke didn't hesitate, he walked over to the clerk and asked if there was any room open.

"Why yes, only one room. I hope its okay seeing that there are two of you."

"Yea, its fine. How much?" Sasuke asked.

As Sasuke payed for the room all Sakura could do was think. _Yeah sharing a bed this time won't be a problem. I wonder what it will be like sleeping in the same bed as him, without being hurt this time….ha ha. Hopefully it will go well._

As her ninja had finished, he turned to her and motioned for her to follow him. But that's when something hit her. She wanted to check for the date. The female ninja turned to the clerk and spoke.

"Umm do you know what day it is?"

"Yes, today is the 28th of March."

Sakura smiled as she had heard the date. Today was her birthday. She was finally 18 years old.

"Come on." Sasuke said grabbing his girlfriend's arm and pulling her behind him.

"Okay." Sakura said while being dragged behind him.

The two reached the room in no time, it was the only room door that was open, on the second floor, at the end of the hall. As they entered the room they saw that against the wall farthest from the door was where the bed was and to the right of the bed was a window that over looked the town. On the same wall as the door there was a table, and on the other side of the bed was a nightstand.

"Well this is better than the other place we stayed at." Sakura said.

"Hn."

Sakura ran and jumped on the bed. She loved the way it felt. She never got to sleep in beds much anymore. It was just about the only thing she missed from her old princess life, having huge cozy beds.

"Oh yeah I missed this." She said lying on her back in the bed.

The raven haired male set down his and Sakura's stuff in the corner and walked toward the bed. He then layed on top of Sakura.

"So today's your birthday huh?"

"Yea, I'm 18 now."

"So what do you want?"

"Nothing, just as long as you're here with me."

"Aww, I can do better than that. Just tell me what you want."

"Nothing. And you don't need to waste your money."

"Well let's go and walk around town to find something to do."

"Alright."

**xXx**

_**Later on…**_

The two walked in the streets only to see, gift shops, inns, and food places. The princess once again wore her head garment on her small head. As the two were in the middle of the town, they soon felt little rain drops come down. They pushed that aside until it started to rain really bad.

"Come on, let's get inside." Sasuke said grabbing his love's hand and going into the closest store to them. She only nodded to him and allowed him to lead her inside.

Once inside the store, Sakura looked around to find out it was a jewelry store. She looked at the jewelry only to see it was very high priced, _What is a store so expensive doing in a rather poor town, I mean I could afford this stuff only because I am or was a princess._

She was used to getting the best of items, but the princess wasn't spoiled, she never really ever wanted the best but she got it all the time or used to. She remember for her last birthday, her 17th birthday her mother and father had got her a pearl necklace, the pearl was huge and had a beautiful white color, it had a pure gold chain on it too.

Sakura put her hand on her neck where that necklace used to rest. She had left it when she was in such a hurry to go with Sasuke, _I really miss it, I loved that necklace, I wore it everyday, I remember Hinata had one just like it. But maybe its better that I left it, out here it might have got broken._

As she pushed that thought away she looked around the rest of the shop, she never really drooled over jewelry before, but that was until she saw the ring, unlike any other ring she had ever seen, even as a princess all her life, she had never seen a ring as beautiful as this one.

It had a white gold band on it and in the center of the ring was a huge white diamond that sparkled without even a light on it. It had two smaller white diamonds on either side of it. The white gold band curved into a beautiful design around the diamonds.

Sasuke who was looking around as well, saw that Sakura, out of the corner of his eyes had stopped for about two minutes, he couldn't help but walk over to her and see what she was looking at, he saw that it was a beautiful diamond ring, he smiled.

"Well there you go, this can be your birthday present." He said, only to have Sakura snap out of her daydreaming to stare at him.

"No way, I told you not to spend any money. I only want you for my birthday present."

"Get real, what princess says that? Princesses are spoiled. But then again you're not normal, you're a princess that doesn't beg and beg for items."

"I am too normal, I'm just not a brat and happy to have what I can get."

"Well be happy that I'm gonna get you that."

"No."

Sasuke sighed. "Okay fine. But go see if the rain as lightened up, because if it has, we will go and get some food from a stand and go to the inn."

"Alright."

Sakura walked to the end of the store and opened the door to see it was only sprinkling, but no one was really on the streets now. It almost looked like a ghost town. She looked up at the sky to see the clouds were a dark gray color. _Happy Birthday Hinata. We're finally 18. Even though I just saw you, I miss you already. It's so hard without you. I mean we have been together and everything for 17 years, and now we aren't anymore. I wonder if we will ever been close like we were before, again._

As Sakura remember Sasuke's command, she didn't turn her head as she called back, "It's only sprinkling. So let's go."

"Alright, just a minute."

She didn't even ask what was taking him a minute when he was just suppose to be looking around the store. She just looked out the door to see two little boys running around, playing in the ran.

"Wait for me Riku!" The smallest boy yelled as he was falling behind the bigger one.

_Riku. I have never heard a name like that before._ The female ninja just stood in the door way, when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. She smiled.

"Ready to go, Sasuke?"

"Yeah, come on."

As the two began looking for a place to buy some food and go, Sakura thought back at the name of Riku.

"Have you ever heard of the name Riku?"

"Yeah, I like it a lot."

"Really? Because I kind of thought it was weird."

"Well if I ever have a son, I wanted to name him Riku."

"Well it won't be my son, because I wouldn't name him Riku."

**xXx**

_**Back at the Inn…**_

The two had ate and were now laying on the bed, thinking of things to talk about.

"So you really don't like the name of Riku do you?" Sasuke asked.

"Well it's okay I guess, now that I have thought about it."

"Oh, so you're sure you don't want anything for your birthday?"

"Positive."

"Well I can think of something I could give you, and it's free."

"What?"

Sasuke just smirked, as he rolled over on top of her. Sakura smiled. He bent his head down where his lips met hers. Sasuke placed one of his hands to rest on Sakura's neck as his other hand wandered over her stomach.

Sakura opened her mouth, as his tongue when to meet hers. Sakura grabbed at Sasuke's sides. Sakura let out a small moan as Sasuke squeezed her side. His hand then moved from her side down to stroke her leg. Sasuke broke the kiss as he began kissing her neck. Sakura had butterflies in her stomach.

As he pulled back up to her face, he kissed her again. His hands now went to her chest. After they kissed for about a minute he pulled back just a centimeter to speak.

"Do you want to?"

"Sex?"

"Yeah."

"If you want to." Sakura smiled as she said that. She really did want to, she had thought about it every since she found out Sasuke'ffeelings for her. She wasn't really sacred, she just always wondered what it felt like, from what people were always saying, it feels like super good. Sasuke kissed her again, but then pulled back again.

"I'm a guy you know what I want."

"Well then okay, let's."

He kissed her again, and began to kiss at her neck when he started to talk again.

"Are you sure, it's okay if you don't want to."

Sakura only smiled as she used her arms to push Sasuke away from her body to where she could see his face. Sasuke was amazed at how strong she had gotten.

"I want to. Please."

He only smiled as he went down to kiss her again. And while they were kissing he began to take off Sakura's shirt.

**xXx**

_**Later that night…**_

Sasuke woke up to hear the noise of the soft rain coming down on the building. He guessed it was about 3 or 4 in the morning. He looked to see that there was no light that came through the curtain over the window. He then looked to his side to see Sakura cuddled next to him. She was really warm against his body.

As he looked at her while she slept, he saw how innocent she looked. He almost felt guilty about taking her. But she had said the magic word, 'please.' So what's a guy to do. (I couldn't write about the sex part because this story is rated T.)

But as he was looking over her bare body over, he heard something hit the window. Like a rock. He pulled himself to the side of the bed where he pulled back the curtain to look outside and see a man standing in the middle of the street. The man motioned for Sasuke to come to him. Sasuke opened the window, where he could talk to him.

"What do you want?" He called lightly as to not wake Sakura.

"You seek power, yes?"

"………."

"I can give you that power. Come, talk with me."

"You don't even know who I am do you? This is a trick."

"You're Sasuke Uchiha. Younger brother of Itachi Uchiha."

"..."

"You seek to kill your brother. You have been trying for years...but I can end that, I have the power to do it."

"Fine, stay there, I'm coming down."

Sasuke closed the window and the curtain. He then pulled back the covers of the bed as he stood up. He grabbed his clothes off of the floor and put them on, quickly. He then moved to look at Sakura still asleep in the bed. He smiled at her and kissed her check. He then left the room.

Sasuke walked to the bottom floor of the inn, as he saw the man was now inside standing right in front of the door. His face was white as snow, his eyes yellow but with black diamond shaped pupils. His hair was black and fell all the way to the bottom of his back. He was rather tall.

"I'm Orochimaru. And I can give you all the power you want, even enough strength to kill your brother."

_Finally a way to kill Itachi and end this stupid journey I have been on for years and years. Once I kill Itachi, I can be with Sakura and settle down, and restore my clan._

"How can you do this?"

"All I have to do is give you my mark. You see, the mark takes a portion of my strength and it slowly absorbs into your body, but however, for the first month or so, you won't be able to control your body due to all the power going into your body. So I will be there to help you." (I don't really know how the whole Orochimaru thing with the cursed mark thing goes, I didn't feel like looking it up so yeah. I am making it where it's simple and stuff. So this is how it is in my story.)

"Why are you so willing to help me?"

"Well let's just say Itachi and I have unfinished business and I thought it would be wonderful revenge to have his own little brother, the one who he said was so weak, is the one to kill him, because he won't be afraid of you coming to fight him and you'll take him by surprise."

Sasuke only smirked. This was all to easy. That's when Sakura popped in his head. _Wait he said that I won't really be able to control myself very well at first. What if I lost control and I hurt her. I could never live with myself if I did that. But I want her to stay with me. Maybe I have to leave her behind. It's for her own good. I can't live with the thought that I could attack her any second…_

"So will you do it? I would just love to see his face when he finds out the person he least expected is killing him."

Sasuke only thought of Sakura. _I love Sakura to death, but I can't forget what my whole purpose is for being out here. My journey is to kill Itachi. Even if I die trying. I have to let Sakura go. If I make it out okay I'll go back to her, if she'll have me. But there are no guarantees. I have to kill Itachi. I shouldn't have let Sakura get mixed in with all of this. I knew I shouldn't have fallen for her, but I did and I fell hard -- so hard that I can't even really get up. _

"Sasuke?"

_I have to leave her. I will always love her but I made a promise to myself that I would kill him. Maybe one day in the future after Itachi is killed, I might see Sakura again, and we can be together. But we can't be together not now._

"Yea, I'll do it, but give me until the morning, about 8 or 9."

"Alright. I will meet you on the west side of the town."

"But before you go can you do me a favor?"

"Whatever you want."

Sasuke told Orochimaru his favor, but while he did in the back of this head all he could think was, _My last hours with Sakura._

**xXx**

_**In the morning…**_

Sakura woke up to the light shining through the window, and Sasuke laying beside her. He was asleep. Sakura smiled at herself as she remembered the night before. As she began to move around, Sasuke woke up and smiled at her. Sakura reached up to kiss him as he kissed her back.

"So how was that for a birthday present?"

"Lovely."

He only smiled at her. He began to get out of his bed when Sakura began to looked puzzled.

"Why in such a rush?"

"Well while we were in town yesterday, I overheard some people talking about Itachi being seen in the woods just to the west side of the city."

"Oh okay."

Sakura did like Sasuke and got her clothes on, and packed up. Even though Sakura trusted Sasuke, she felt like something was wrong, like he was hiding something. She knew he was acting weird and she was just hoping that it wasn't anything to do with what happened last night, because she had loved it and it seemed like he was enjoying himself too.

The two were then headed toward the west side of the town. Each step Sasuke took, he felt more and more pain coming to him.

_I can't back out, Sakura will be fine. If she stays with me then she could get hurt and I can't let her get mixed in all of this -- well anymore than she already is. _

He only looked at her beautiful pink hair flow along with the wind as they walked. Her green eyes were filled with life. She seemed so happy, and it killed Sasuke to know that she wouldn't be very happy in less than an hour now.

When they exited the town, they entered the woods. The patch of woods were very small. As they walked deeper into the woods Sasuke then saw light shining through some trees, he knew it was the very west side of the woods, this was it.

He remembered the favor he had asked Orochimaru to do for him. He had asked Orochimaru to go and find some of the Konoha guards that were looking for Sakura, their missing princess. Sasuke had told Orochimaru to lead them to the very west side of the woods, saying that he had seen Sakura there. But knowing Sakura, she wasn't going to allow them to take her, so in the night he had bought a drug, that was in the form of a liquid. It was suppose to paralyze you then make you pass out for a few hours. With her passed out, the guards could take her home.

_I guess its time, I have to give her this drug. I have the perfect way, but she'll hate me for this, but it's only because I love her so much, that I'm doing this._

As Sakura was looking around the forest, he took the time to take out the drug, which was in a tiny bottle, he took a small sip, but didn't sallow it. (It only affects you if you sallow it.) He used one of his hands to grab Sakura's head. He turned her to look at him. He had taken such a small sip she couldn't tell he had anything in his mouth, he then moved close to her as he kissed her. And when she opened her mouth to kiss him he moved the liquid drug in her mouth, she was so into the kiss she didn't notice it.

As they pulled apart, Sasuke looked sad. Sakura only looked at him.

"Sakura, I know you told me not to buy you anything, but I wanted to."

Sakura smiled. "What?"

That's when Sasuke pulled out a small box from his back pocket. He handed it to her, as she only starred at him. She sighed.

"I'll keep it, but next time don't buy me anything. Okay?"

"Alright." _If there is a next time…_

Sakura opened the little box, only to find herself speechless. It was the ring she had eyed so badly in the store, the exact thing she had told Sasuke not to buy. She only smiled.

"Oh, Sasuke that you so much."

"Your welcome."

Sasuke reached for the ring and pulled it out of the box and grabbed her left hand, he slid it on her ring finger only to have Sakura looked puzzled. That was her wedding finger.

"Why are you putting it on that finger?"

"Listen to me...I want you to remember me when you look down at your ring and it's on that finger because if I make it back okay, and you still want me, I want to marry you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Where I am going, you cannot come with me. I love you so much, I don't want you to get hurt. Just after this don't ever doubt that I love you, because I do. I love you so much. And I'm sorry about the drug I had to give you, it was the only way."

Sakura was about to say something but for some reason she couldn't find her voice. She felt her body stiffen up. It was the drug taking affect on her. She then realized he had put it in her mouth when they had kissed. She had swallowed it.

"I wish I could, but I can't tell you why I am doing this. Just remember I love you."

Sakura wanted to ask him what was happening so bad, but she felt herself stiffen up. She couldn't move. She struggled to keep her eyes open. But then Sasuke picked Sakura up, bridal style and began walking with her toward the west end of the forest. Just before Sakura's eyes closed, she saw a single tear fall from Sasuke's eye. It was the first time she had ever seen him cry.

Sakura couldn't help but have a few of her tears fall from her eyes. She fought against her body to keep her eyes open, but then she gave in as she got a good look at her love's face.

Sasuke keep walking until he soon saw a large group of guards standing in the sunlight right on the outside of the forest.

As Sasuke got in ear range he called to them, "I found the princess, she was being attacked by a group of guys but I saved her. She's okay -- she only fainted because she got scared."

"Oh thank you so much sir! What is your name, the king will give you the reward for finding her."

"Well I would rather not, he can keep the reward."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just take her….." Sasuke held sadness in his voice.

Sasuke then as much as he hated too, handed Sakura over to the guard that walked up to him. The guard then took Sakura back to the group of guards.

The guards, then put Sakura in the carriage they had, there were no sides to it, only a roof, one horse was hooked to it. As the guards lyed her inside, a guard grabbed the horses' reins and began leading him.

Because the carriage had no walls on it, only a roof, Sakura struggled to open her eyes, as she opened her eyes, she saw Sasuke standing in front of the woods, he looked sad, it looked like he couldn't move.

**When I saw him, **

**standing in front of the woods,**

**I knew this would be**

**the last time I saw him**

**for a long time.**

**It would be the way**

**I remembered him,**

**standing there sad --****looking**

**after me as I was hauled away,**

**toward my home, **

**the castle. **

**That's when I blacked out….**

**I knew I would miss him, dearly.**

**Well there you have it, a very shocking event, but please review!! There is more to come, it's not over. **

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	15. Broken Doll

**Well yeah things really turned out unexpected. So yeah, well I hope you all loved it. Well here it goes onward with the story. **

**­­

* * *

****Chapter 15: Broken Doll**

**I remembered...**

**that day, when the only man I had ever loved,**

**handed me over to the guards, **

**sending me home, **

**leaving me.**

**Now every time I think of him,**

**I see the same picture --**

**the one of him,**

**standing in front**

**of the woods, watching the guards take me away…**

**sadness was in his face. **

**I still don't understand…**

**why….why did it happen?**

**Even to this day I'm in the dark…**

**That day…the day my love left me was…**

**a year ago…**

Sakura sat in the courtyard of the castle, under the cherry blossom tree, the one she had always sat under when she was younger, before _he_ came. The princess, wore a light blue kimono. It was like a dress because the bottom part of it, wasn't tight fitting on her, it swayed around her when she walked. It was long, so long that it would drag on the floor when she walked.

It was raining. Pouring down. But Sakura didn't care. She liked the rain because no one could ever really tell that she was crying. She now had short pink hair, it barely reached her shoulders now, it once had come to the middle of her back. Her skin was no longer pale, it was now tan. Tan from going out and searching for _him_ all the time.

She wasn't any taller though. Still 5 feet and 3 inches. She's 19 now. _He _had left her on the day after her birthday, March 29th. Today was exactly a year from that day.

Sakura always sat under this tree, even when it was raining, snowing, or anything, every night. She was waiting for him, waiting for him to come back to her. As the princess looked out among the courtyard, looking lifeless, someone put their hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing out here? It's raining."

Sakura didn't even have to look at their face to know who it was. The voice was all too familiar. It was her twin sister, Hinata. Hinata was holding an umbrella over her head as she looked down at her sister, who's back was to her.

"Come on let's get you get inside. You'll get sick."

"I'll be okay."

"No, you need to go take a nice warm bath, this rain is freezing."

Hinata, didn't need to look at her face at all to tell she was spaced out, lifeless, or better yet, she looked like a broken doll. It was because of _him._ Hinata never said anything to Sakura about it, but now she secretly hated _him._ Hinata couldn't stand _him_, after what _he_ had done to her sister. Sakura was her best friend, now Sakura was gone, she wasn't the same anymore. Sure some days she would laugh and have a good time, but Hinata wasn't fooled, her sister was just acting. Hinata feared that her sister would never be the same again.

_**xoxoxo**_

Sakura sat in a large bathtub. Hinata ended up getting her way, and had took her sister to the bath house. Hinata now sat in a chair next to the bathtub. Hinata rarely left her sister alone, she was afraid one day she was try to kill herself. It was one of her worst fears.

"So can you please talk to me. What's on your mind?" Hinata asked.

Sakura had recently started to talk about her feelings. Hinata was happy now that she was, she saw it as an improvement. Sakura only looked at her sister's face. She had changed over the last year too. Her hair was no longer short. It was long, past her shoulders. She still had her bangs but the back of her hair that was once short was now as long as the rest of her hair. She had also been married. Her and Naruto got hitched in August.

"Well, I feel….like _he_ used me. Like _he_ never…care for…me…at all." Her voice was quiet and soft. As she was done with her sentence, she sunk down at little farther into the bath water. How only her head was showing as she leaned it against the back wall.

"Well if that's it then, why can't you just try your best to forget about _him_? Move on because I'm sure if _he_ really didn't care about you then _he _has already moved on."

Sakura almost felt tears come to her eyes as she heard her sister's words. Her sister wasn't being mean, it was just the truth and Sakura hated it. She knew her sister was right, if _he_ really did use her then _he_ probably had moved on.

"Even though it's been a year…..I still don't know…I still don't know why _he_ left me…._he _said _he_ couldn't tell me, but…_he_ wished that _he_ could have."

Sakura then felt dizzy. She let out a breath of air as she closed her eyes. Hinata knew she was probably getting sick from sitting in the rain, so she didn't ask anymore questions.

"Hinata? Will you wash my hair for me? I feel dizzy."

Hinata smiled, it was times like these, she felt more like a motherly figure than a sisterly one toward her sister even though she was younger by a minute.

"Sure."

_**xoxoxo**_

Sakura, looking out into the rain of her closed window, was rocking in a rocking chair with a baby in her arms. The baby was now close to sleep. She was singing the baby a song, it had been her lullaby when she was a baby.

_Sleep my child and peace attend thee,  
All through the night  
Guardian angels God will send thee,  
All through the night;  
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,  
Hill and vale in slumber sleeping,  
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,  
All through the night. _

_Angels watching, e'er around thee,  
All through the night  
Midnight slumber close surround thee,  
All through the night  
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,  
Hill and vale in slumber sleeping  
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,  
All through the night _

_While the moon her watch is keeping,  
All through the night  
While the weary world is sleeping,  
All through the night  
O'er thy spirit gently stealing,  
Visions of delight revealing  
Breathes a pure and holy feeling,  
All through the night. _

Now the baby was sound asleep. She smiled down at him, the baby had her eyes. But he also looked a lot like _him._ The baby was named Riku, the son of Sakura and _him._ Of course, _he_ didn't have the slightest idea that _he_ had a son. When _he_ had give her that birthday present, it came with a second gift, a baby. And even before either of them knew, _he_ had left Sakura. It was only a month or so later, she found out she was pregnant.

Of course, everyone loved the baby, her mother took care of him a lot, as did her sister. The maids loved having a baby around. They hadn't had a baby in the castle since Hinata and Sakura where little.

Her father never really said much about the baby, but he never really took after it like everyone else. It was probably because he was currently mad at his daughter, Sakura. He wanted her to get married so bad, because most girls got married about 15 to 17 years old. But here she was 19 and no husband. Sakura only refused to marry.

Then there was a knock at the door. She turned her head to see her mother step into the room and smiled. She loved having her daughter back at the castle. As her mother walked closer toward her, she started to talk.

"You have a visitor."

Once she said that Rock Lee walked in behind Queen Misao. Lee had changed a lot too. He was no longer that geek Sakura had met back in the forest. He was a lot tanner now, he was stronger and his hair had grown out, he still had his bangs but the back of his hair came down to touch his shoulders. He was a lot more mature.

Misao smiled down at little Riku, as he had fallen asleep. She put her hand on his cheek, she smiled more now. She loved her grandbaby. She said it made her feel young again, taking care of a baby and all. She wasn't mad at Sakura at all about getting pregnant, she had just about done the same thing when she was with Neji's father, she had gotten pregnant out in the wilderness and wasn't even married yet.

"Well I'll see you later Sakura." Misao said as she stood and left the room. Sakura got up as well and layed Riku down in his baby crib. As she layed him down she smiled and stood over the crib watching him sleep. Lee walked to stand next to her, he also looked down at Riku.

Riku was a very beautiful baby. He had his mother's green eyes, and he had tan skin, black hair and in the face he looked like his father and mother combined. He was small for his age. He was born on December 22nd. It was now March, making him 3 months old.

"So how have you been doing, Sakura?"

"The same I guess."

Lee came all the time to spend time with Sakura. He was always there for her. He still traveled with Neji, but even Neji didn't travel that much anymore, because he doesn't like to leave Tenten behind. Tenten was pregnant. Her and Neji had gotten married in June. Sure they didn't date for long but they had traveled together for ever so they got married and Tenten immediately got pregnant. She was due next month, April.

She stays here in the castle. As does Neji now. Misao got a kick out of all the people coming to stay, her daughter and son came back, as did Tenten, her new daughter-in-law, and Lee. The Queen loved Lee, in a way she wished he and her daughter, Sakura would get married. The King wished it as well but Sakura didn't think she was ready for anything like that just yet.

Even though Sakura still loved Sasuke, she did have some if a little bit of feelings for Lee. He had been there for her all the time, she cried on his shoulder a lot. He had told her many times, he loved her and if she needed someone to be with he would marry her in a heart beat. But she just wanted to wait, just a little while longer.

Lee also got along with Riku really good. Lee loved the boy as if that was his own child. He rocked him to sleep sometimes. Sakura loved that about him, he would be a good father, sometimes she believe maybe Lee was really the one for her, but she still couldn't forget about Sasuke.

Sakura went to go sit on her bed, as Lee followed her. As he looked at her face, Lee noticed she looked pale.

"Are you sick?"

"Yeah, I guess it's from sitting outside when it started to rain."

She looked to see that Lee almost looked angry with her. He hated it when she did those things to herself. He only cared for her and he hated to see her get hurt or get sick.

"You need to stop doing those kind of things to yourself. Either that or I will, I'll make sure you won't do that again."

Sakura only smiled.

"Okay I'll try harder."

"Listen I know I have asked you a thousand times, but you never really gave me an answer. Why do you care so much about _him _when_ he_ left you?"

Sakura, didn't know why but she felt better talking to Lee about _him _than anyone else. She thought she would be able to talk to her mom or sister about it the easiest. Maybe even Tenten, her sister-in-law, or her own brother, Neji. But she never thought Rock Lee would be the one who she felt the most comfortable talking to about her feelings.

"Well it's just, I don't exactly no, why _he _left. So it makes me hope…..that there was a good reason _he_ left. Maybe one day _he'll_ come back and explain everything to me. Maybe if I just…..keep waiting…maybe _he'll_ come back."

"So that's why…that's why you won't marry anyone…your father keeps bringing up a lot of people for you to marry but you won't do it. You wouldn't even marry me when you dad suggested it."

"Yeah, mostly I just think _he'll_ come back, so I just keep waiting."

"But when will you give up?"

"I don't know."

"Be honest, would you ever marry me someday?"

"Well, I do have feelings for you, so yeah I would marry you once I know for sure _he _isn't coming back."

Lee smiled. He wasn't mad that he was second place for her heart, that he would get her only if _he _didn't come back. He knew they had a strong connection. She had fell in love with _him _and that was her first love. They had a story together, the thief that took the princess away from the castle. And they also had a child, even though _he _didn't know it. He understood how she felt, Sakura knew that he understood too, she really liked that about him, how Lee could understand anything.

"Just don't hesitate to tell me that you have given up on _him_, but don't rush yourself to marry me just because you don't want to hurt my feelings, I understand. I just want you to be happy, if you want to wait for_ him_ the rest of your life, then so be it, I'll still be your friend."

"Lee, you don't know how much I really appreciate your kindness. You mean so much to me. When I first met you I thought you were just some guy, but now that you have matured and I have gotten to know you -- your so sweet."

_Almost sweeter than __**him**__. No, just because __**he**__ didn't say those things doesn't mean __**he**__ wasn't thinking it. Deep down I believed __**he **__really did love me, and that there was a really good reason why __**he**__ left…that's why I keep waiting….and searching…._

"So are you going out tomorrow to look for _him_?" Lee asked.

"No, I'm gonna stay. I feel kind of sick."

"Well sitting in the rain will do that."

Lee always went with Sakura to look for_ him_, sometimes Neji came too, and sometimes Naruto, but always Lee. He didn't want her to get hurt or anything. And now knowing that he has a chance to marry her, he really wasn't leaving her side.

Lee stayed for a little while longer but then decided he was tired and was going to go to sleep. After giving Sakura a hug and a kiss on the cheek, he left Sakura in her room.

Sakura then layed down in her bed. She felt like the past year had zoomed by, like the day _he_ left was just yesterday or something. She played back the last year to herself…

_Okay so __**he**__ left me…then soon after that happened Neji and Tenten started dating in about early April only to get married in early June, the two of them moved in the castle, only to have Tenten get pregnant in the middle of June. Then in August, Hinata and Naruto got married. About September, Lee started talking to me a lot. At first I didn't want him talking to me, I just wanted to be alone, but I soon started to enjoy his company in October. In December I gave birth to Riku, gosh I remember being so sore afterward…. About January Dad started to get on to me about marriage. He started to invite guys here to try and win my heart. After I turned them all down, Dad saw how much Lee liked me and asked him if he wanted to marry me, of course he said yes, but I turned him down too…cuz I'm waiting for __**him**__…and I remember as soon as I had Riku me and Lee went out all the time looking for __**him**__ sometimes, Neji and Naruto would come but Lee is always there. It's like Lee is everywhere __**Riku's Father **__was suppose to be, I mean for god sake, Lee comforts me and helps me out when I'm sick, but where is __**my true love**__? Lee even rocks Riku to sleep sometimes…Riku probably thinks Lee is his dad…..But I'm sure __**he'll**__ come back someday…I'll find __**him**__, Riku isn't going to grow up without a dad, I will make sure of it…._

_**xoxoxo**_

In the morning, Sakura woke to hear her son crying. She opened her eyes only to feel how tired she really was. She layed still for about a couple of minutes, but then decided she needed to get up. She pulled back her covers and her feet met with the cold hard flooring in her room. She then walked over to her baby.

Riku was laying on his back and starring up at his mother when he saw her come into view. Sakura smiled down at him as she leaned over to pick him up. Once she picked him up he stopped crying.

"All you wanted was attention, wasn't it?"

Sakura smiled at him and hugged him to her chest. Riku only looked up at her and smiled.

"I just can't wait until you start to talk."

She then walked with her baby to the far side of her room where two glass doors where, she opened them as she walked outside on her balcony. From her balcony she could see far out among the forest beside the castle. She could only really see tree tops and the sky.

"Riku, your dad is out there somewhere. I promise I'll find _him_ for you. When you meet _him _you'll love _him_."

As she was looking out toward the forest, she heard her door open. She turned her head slightly to see out of the corner of her eye it was Neji. He was walking over toward her. He then took a spot to stand next to his sister and nephew.

"How are you feeling today?" He asked.

"I feel kind of bad. My head hurts and I feel really tired and exhausted."

"Oh, Well do you want me and Tenten to take care of the kid so you can rest?"

Neji, even though he called Riku 'the kid', did care for his nephew. Even though he was pissed as hell toward Sasuke, he liked to take care of Riku. Sakura guessed he was practicing to be a good dad, which he would be next month, in April.

"Sure. If you want to."

Neji turned to grab the baby out of Sakura's arms. He smiled as the baby was placed in his arms. He then moved to plant a kiss on his younger sister's forehead.

"Get some rest okay?"

Sakura only nodded her head as she watched her brother walk out of the room. Without wasting anymore time she climbed back in bed. Her bed felt so comfortable. Sakura and Neji had really gotten close, especially when Neji and Tenten moved in. Neji was gotten close to Hinata too, but not as close as he was to his other sister, Sakura.

Sakura layed in her bed, she then began to wonder about Sasuke.

_I wonder what __**he**__ will look like when I find __**him**__. I wonder if __**he'll **__be the same. I just remember __**he**__ was so hot. I just wonder how much longer I will have to keep searching for __**him**__. I won't ever give up. __**He's **__out there somewhere. And I still want to know why __**he**__ left me, there has to be a reason why. I know there must be!_

**Well what did you think? Things aren't so depressing in the next chapter. Trust me, so that's good for all the emotional people. Haha, but anyway please review!!**

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	16. His Reason

**Well I heard a couple of people getting upset about the whole Lee thing. But I'm just gonna say that this is a Sasuke and Sakura story, and if you don't get that hint then – umm, just keep reading, lol.**

**Well anyway things aren't as depressing in this one and I hope you all enjoy it!**

* * *

**Chapter 16: **_**His**_** Reason**

Sakura walked with Lee and Naruto through a very run down village. Some of the buildings were half way destroyed, others were covered with vines and plants. This was a place most likely for ninjas and other people that didn't have anything.

Sakura turned her head to look at Naruto, who was on her right side.

"Who do you think we should ask for information?"

"Well probably ninjas, so my guess is that group of guys over there." Naruto pointed to a group of guys sitting at a table right outside of a bar. They looked to be about middle aged. There were four of them.

Sakura walked over to them followed by Naruto and Lee.

"Do you guys no anything about Sasuke Uchiha?"

The guys stopped their talking among each other, as they looked up to see Sakura. The one closest to Sakura spoke first.

"Actually I am pretty good with keeping up with people but for some reason, no one has heard anything of the Uchiha for the past year. The last thing I heard is that he was hunting down his brother and some girl was traveling with him. He left the girl and, no one knows anything else."

Sakura just remained silent. Naruto then stepped up to speak.

"So it's like he disappeared?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. But I also heard Itachi is dead. His body was found four months ago." The same man said again.

"But nothing of Sasuke. But I'm sure Sasuke was the one who killed Itachi." Another man sitting at the table added.

"Well thank you. But I have more searching to do." Sakura said as she turned away to walk back the way they had come.

Naruto and Lee followed her. As they caught up to her, they heard a voice call after them.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Sakura stopped and looked to see a young girl about 15 years old, dressed as a waitress. She was pretty short about 5'0. She had long black hair and it was pulled back in a long braid with a bow tied to it at the bottom. Her eyes were brown. Sakura didn't know why but this girl's face looked familiar, like she knew this girl.

"Miss, I overheard your conversation over there and I would like to say that I know information of Sasuke Uchiha. More than those men do."

"Well what do you know?" Sakura asked.

"Please come follow me, I would rather talk about this in private. Come with me to the back room of the restaurant. I work there and I'm on break so please join me."

"Okay." Sakura said, as she began to follow the girl into the restaurant. The other two followed as well. They walked through the long restaurant to a small hallway in the back and at the end of the hallway was a room, the girl lead them into the room and shut the door.

"Please have a seat." She said.

Sakura sat down in a chair around a small table as did Naruto and Lee, the girl then sat down next to Sakura at the small table.

"Okay so what do you know?" Sakura asked.

"Well first off, I have to ask this but are you the girl that traveled with Sasuke?"

"Yes."

"I thought so, because my sister said the girl that traveled with Sasuke was strong and had pink hair. Do you remember my sister? Her name was Kin."

Now Sakura knew why this girl looked so familiar her and Kin just about looked alike in the face. Sakura felt kind of bad because she had beat up this girl's sister.

"Yeah I remember her. I kind of beat her up. Sorry um -- what's your name?"

"It's Kaoru. And it's okay, she was stealing money and besides your spared her, you could have killed her but you let her go. But anyway Kin like any other ninja wanted power to be the best fighter out there, so one day a man named Orochimaru offered her power and told her if he gave her his cursed mark then the power would drain into her body. Of course she did it.

It was a trick. He lied because Orochimaru is very old and he lives off taking other peoples' bodies and when he gives you the curse mark it lets him control you. And after a while if he is really impressed with you, he will take your body, killing you. But anyway, after Kin was under his control she found out what was really going on. Orochimaru keeps about two or three people at a time and when he gets uninterested with one person, he kills them and keeps the stronger people. So when Kin was still under his control, he took control of Sasuke."

"How do you know?" Sakura asked.

"Because when Orochimaru was more focused on Sasuke because he was new, Kin got to go off venture around and she would come and talk to me, and she told me about how Sasuke was her newest partner. But anyway, she saw how Orochimaru grew more excited with Sasuke and less interested in her. She knew her day was coming. Sasuke soon killed Itachi with his new power from Orochimaru, but when he did that, Orochimaru decided he didn't want Kin anymore so he killed her. I found out because I heard people talking about it in town that Orochimaru had killed the girl that was working for him."

"Kin is dead?!" Sakura went wide eyed, thinking that just a year ago she had fought Kin and now she is dead. Gone from this world forever.

"Yeah. Kin was my best friend as well as my sister. And the only thing I had, my parents died when I was young. And I know even if Orochimaru doesn't get tired of Sasuke, he will eventually take over Sasuke's body. Either way he will die. So you must track down Orochimaru and free him or you'll regret it later. I know I regret never asking anyone to help my sister."

"Oh my god. So Sasuke left just so he could get the power to defeat his brother. Maybe he still loves me."

"He does."

Sakura just looked at Kaoru, confused. "Kin would tell me that Sasuke never really talked much but when he was alone, he would always mumble something about a girl named Sakura. How he regretted leaving her, and missed her and that kind of stuff. But because Orochimaru was so impressed by Sasuke, he never really let Sasuke run around like Kin, because he was worried Sasuke would get away, so he could never come and see you."

"We have to go after him!" Sakura said looking back at Naruto and Lee. Lee almost looked sad.

"Of course, but we don't know where Orochimaru is. And besides how strong is this Orochimaru guy anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Very strong. You'll need a lot of people, but even then you still may not be able to beat him." Kaoru said.

"We have a few people but they are strong. I'm sure we will manage." Naruto said.

"Well thank you for that information Kaoru. It will help me very much." Sakura said.

Kaoru nodded her head. Naruto and Lee stood up from the table, as Sakura did as well. The two boys were exiting the room when Sakura turned to Kaoru.

"Umm..Kaoru you said that Kin was all you had left before she died, right?"

"Yes, my father died about a month before I was born from a sickness, and my mother died giving birth to me. Kin raised me and now she's gone too. So I work here now. I mean I like to work but I hate being alone."

"Well, I can help. If you like to work then I have a much better job for you, it's a lot safer than working in this place."

"What is it?"

"How about you come with me and you can work at my castle. You can be a maid or a cook or any other kind of job we have. You get free meals, a room to stay in you know it's basically your home if you work there."

"Oh Miss Sakura I would love that. Thank you so much!"

"Okay come on, do need to grab some things?"

"Yeah. But it wont take long."

"Okay I'll come with you and I can take you back to the castle."

_**xoxoxo**_

Sakura sat looking out her window. It was raining again. She had the glass doors to her balcony closed. She held her baby in her arms. He was asleep.

She wore a light pink dress that was strapless and tight fitting around her chest and waist but became puffy around her leg area. Even though she didn't really like wearing those huge dresses, her mother liked her to wear them when she was around the castle and let her dress like a ninja when she would leave to go out.

She felt a kind of relief knowing that Sasuke didn't leave her for another woman or just to be leaving her. He left to get power and kill Itachi and he was going to come back to her after that, but Orochimaru is controlling his body, not completely but where he can't get away and come back to her.

She heard a knock on her door, Sakura called for them to come in. She turned her head slightly to see it was Kaoru coming toward her.

"Miss, may I sit?" Kaoru asked standing next to a chair to the left of Sakura.

Sakura smiled. "Of course Kaoru. You can call me Sakura by the way and you don't have to be that polite."

Kaoru sat down and looked at Sakura.

"Well Miss its just I have been working ever since I was about 10 and the only thing I have ever been taught is manners and to be polite. So it's a hard habit to break."

"Oh I see, well your manners don't bother me so if you please you can call me Miss."

"I will. Oh is that your baby?"

"Yes. His name is Riku. He was born in December so he's only a couple of months old."

Kaoru leaned over to get a better look of the baby in Sakura's arms. She smiled.

"May I ask who is the father?"

Sakura just looked at Kaoru and gave a weak smiled. She then used her fingers to touch the side of Riku's face.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Oh really? Now I see why you want to find him so much. You love him and you two have a baby. I bet Sasuke misses him."

"No Sasuke doesn't even know he has a son."

Kaoru just looked taken back at what Sakura had told her. She then smiled.

"Why Miss Sakura, you're kidding right?"

"No, when he left me to get power from Orochimaru, I had just gotten pregnant and neither of us knew it. So he's been gone even before Riku was born."

"Oh I'm sorry, but I'm sure you will save him from Orochimaru. If I may say so myself you need to find him fast, I mean I'm sure Orochimaru is almost to the point where he wants to take over Sasuke's body completely and make it his body."

"Don't worry I will. That's why I told Naruto and Lee to stay behind and try to find out things about Orochimaru. Which reminds me, have they come back yet?"

"Yes they have and they found out information too."

"Really? What is it?"

"They found out Orochimaru is headed toward a large town north of here. It's not to far you could probably get there in about a day or two."

"Really? Well in that case I need to head out tomorrow and get some people to go with me. We need to beat him there so we don't miss him."

"Who all are you taking?"

"Naruto, Lee, my brother Neji. And I know of a couple of others."

"Oh well I'm sure you'll need all the people you can get."

"Yeah. But anyway. Do you like it here?"

"Yes. Thank you once again Miss for letting me come here."

"Well you helped me out a lot with that information. So what job did you pick or are you still thinking?"

"I'm going to be a cook, because I love to cook and do all that kitchen work."

"Well I'm glad you found something you liked to do here."

"I am too. But I have to start cooking dinner, so I will talk to you later, Miss."

"Bye."

With that Kaoru walked out, and Sakura layed her son down in his crib. She looked out the window one more time then changed into some sleep wear and layed down in bed.

_I can't believe I actually thought he left me for another girl or just some random reason I should have known that he really did love me. I feel so much better now. My life is finally turning around after one year of pain and depression. Oh my god….I know exactly what he was talking about before he left me. _

_Okay he said if he makes it through then he would come back to me and he wanted to marry me. He was talking about the fight with him and Itachi. If he came out okay he would come back to me and marry me. But I guess he didn't know that Orochimaru was his real enemy._

Sakura rolled over in her bed where she could reach her night stand on the right side of her huge bed. She opened the only dour it had and reached toward the back of it where she had a small box. She placed the small box on her bed and opened it. She then pulled out the beautiful ring Sasuke had got her. Her engagement ring. She remembered his words.

'_**Listen to me...I want you to remember me when you look down at your ring and it's on that finger because if I make it back okay, and you still want me, I want to marry you.'**_

'_What are you talking about?'_

'_**Where I am going, you cannot come with me. I love you so much, I don't want you to get hurt. Just after this don't ever doubt that I love you, because I do. I love you so much. And I'm sorry about the drug I had to give you, it was the only way.'**_

Sakura just smiled. Everything made sense he didn't want to tell her where he was going because he knew she would come after him and he was afraid Itachi would hurt her. He really did love her.

Sakura put the ring on her left ring finger, her wedding ring finger. She looked at it resting there and smiled.

"Mrs. Sakura Uchiha."

* * *

**So I hope you all liked it. But just please review and sorry it took so long. But I'll try to get the last couple of chapters up pretty fast. Well I guess I got nothing else to say.**

**love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	17. Careless

**Sorry it took so long, but I have just been busy and going on vacation and stuff. But I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Careless**

It had been a couple of days since Sakura and the others had found out information from Kaoru. Sakura leaped through the trees with Lee, Naruto, and Neji behind her. They were on their way to get Sasuke.

"Sakura this isn't the right way." Neji said to correct his sister.

"I know. I told someone to meet us by this river over here." She said.

"Exactly who?" Naruto asked.

"Old friends. I did research and located them. I sent them a letter to tell them about Sasuke and that we would appreciate their help. They said that they would help." Sakura said.

Just then Sakura dropped down to land next to the river. The others did as well. Sakura lifted her head up to see familiar faces.

"Hey there, Ino."

Ino had gotten about two inches taller. Now at about 5'8. Her hair was still long and pulled back. Over the past year she had trained and became much stronger. But not as strong as Sakura.

"Hey there princess."

Shikamaru and Chouji stood behind Ino. Now the two girls weren't fighting over Sasuke anymore, they got along a lot better and actually took a liking to each other.

Ino was 17 now, about to be 18 in September. Shikamaru and Chouji had changed too. Shikamaru was now 5'9 and seemed to have more muscle. Chouji had lost weight and gained more muscle he was 5'10.

"You ready to go?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, come on let's go." Ino said.

With that the group of now seven people, jumped into the trees and began going in the right direction.

_**xoxoxo**_

"So what's been up with you the past year?" Ino asked.

Ino and Sakura were sitting in a hot spring. They had spent the whole day traveling and it was now about 11 at night. They thought it would be a good idea to sit in a hot spring for a while because it relaxed their sore muscles and they would need them tomorrow because they would reach they city where Orochimaru and Sasuke would be. It wasn't for sure if Sasuke and Orochimaru were going to be there when they got there because they had set out early to make sure they would get there before Sasuke and Orochimaru would be there.

"Well a lot." Sakura said.

"Start from the beginning."

"Ok, of course Sasuke left to go with Orochimaru to get power to kill his brother. Of course I was depressed but then I found out I was pregnant."

"You and Sasuke did that?"

"Yeah, like right before he left."

"So did you have the baby or did you get an abortion?"

"I had it, or him. I would never have an abortion. His name is Riku. He was born in December. He looks just like Sasuke with my eyes."

"Aww he must be so cute."

"He is. But then let's see, I think I already told you that Neji is my half brother right?"

"Yeah, you two have the same mom."

"Well anyway, he got married to my friend Tenten in June and now she is pregnant. The baby is due later on this month."

"Is that why Neji looks kinda stressed out?"

"Yeah he is worried he won't get back in time to be there when Tenten has their baby."

"Oh."

"Well anyway, then In August Naruto married my sister."

"Let me guess she is pregnant too."

"No. Well at least not yet. So what's been up with you?"

"Well after I found out Sasuke was in love with you, I was all sad but then Shikamaru comforted me and he ended up telling me he had feelings for me. Of course I was shocked but then we started dating and now we are engaged. We are gonna get married in November."

"Oh wow that's great. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. I'm happy things finally worked out for me."

"Yeah and you get even taller."

"Yeah and I see you still haven't grown. You're still what 5'1?"

"No, I'm 5'3."

"Dang, your like 19 now and I'm still a lot bigger than you."

"I know I wish I could grow a little."

"Yeah, but not every one can be tall."

"Yeah, but all this talk makes me think of Sasuke. I wonder how much he has changed over the past year. I wonder what he will do when he finds out he has a kid."

"Oh that's right, he doesn't even know."

Sakura just stayed quit. _Yeah, Sasuke has no idea he has a son waiting for him to come home…_

_**xoxoxo**_

"Can we please stop to eat?!" Chouji yelled from the back of the group. The group was on the move again and they had been running for a couple of hours.

"No, we can eat when we get there, If we keep this pace up, we will beat them there by a day or so." Sakura called back to him.

"Aww…what if I don't make it there?" Chouji asked disappointed.

"Well then I guess you don't get to eat!" Naruto said.

Ino let out a small laugh. "Chouji if you loved fighting as much as food, we would all be in trouble."

"It's just about impossible to be in a rush with Chouji. Me and Ino are used to it." Shikamaru said.

"Trust me, I already figured that out." Neji said, eyeing Chouji.

Once again the group fell into silence. Sakura couldn't help but think.

_I wonder if he has changed. I hope not too much, I just hope he's the same Sasuke I fell in love with. I know when I first find him, he won't because he will still be under Orochimaru's control._ _But I just hope he remembers everything we had. I mean what if he lost his memory? So many questions…the same questions I have been asking myself over and over for a year now….are about to be answered in a day or so….I just hope that they turn out to be like my dreams…where me and Sasuke get married and start a family or at least, start with another child. I wonder if he will be happy to see Riku. Wait – that is if he makes it out of this mess alive. No, I mustn't think of that. This will turn out okay._

The hours began to flay past the group as they leaped from tree to tree. They had been traveling since dawn and it was now almost dark. Everyone felt exhausted but they all knew what it meant to Sakura and didn't want to delay her anymore with breaks.

They reached the town at dark. They guessed it was about eight. The group went to a local inn and got three rooms. One room for Sakura and Ino, another one for Shikamaru and Chouji and one for Naurto, Lee, and Neji. The rooms were fairly small only holding three at the most, so they had to split up.

Once everyone got settled in their rooms, Naurto and Lee went out to buy food to bring back to all the others. Of course since it was Naruto picking the food out with Lee, everyone got ramen noodles.

But because everyone was so tired no one complained about it. As soon as they got done eating everyone crashed in their bed for the night.

_**xoxoxo**_

Ino woke up to see that her roommate wasn't there. Ino stood up from her bed and looked out her window and saw that down in the streets, Sakura was standing there. No one was with her, so what was she doing?

Ino got dressed and exited her room and began walking down the stairs of the inn. It was early in the morning, almost dawn. It was the second day they had been in the city. Yesterday had been their day of rest, waiting for them to come only to see they weren't coming that day.

Ino reached the streets to see Sakura still standing there. Ino stopped a couple of feet behind Sakura, who had her back to her.

Sakura didn't turn around or even turn her head slightly to see who it was.

"Sakura?" Ino called.

"I feel it…"

"Feel what…..?"

"They are coming today."

"How do you know?"

"Call it fate or an instinct but somehow I just feel it, they are coming today."

"Oh, you want me to wake the others?"

"Yeah. Just to be safe, they can be here at anytime."

Ino woke the others, all of them sat in their rooms waiting, looking out their windows. Sakura had came back inside and was with Ino in their room.

"So are you sure your ready for this?" Ino asked.

"More than I'll ever be I guess."

"But you know Sasuke is our enemy until he is out of Orochimaru's control."

"Yeah…"

"You won't be able to fight against him will you?"

"Yes I can. Sasuke is mine, no one else's."

"Sakura, he won't be right, he will hurt you."

"I know. I mean I can hurt him enough to protect myself and stall him until you all take out Orochimaru. Once Orochimaru is dead Sasuke will be freed right?"

"Yeah that's what I hear."

"I hope so…."

_**xoxoxo**_

"AHH!!" A woman screamed.

A building in the town had just had a corner of it took off by an explosion. People began running away from the monster who had done it, Orochimaru.

"They're here!!" Sakura yelled as her and the group has seen what had happened.

The group then raced outside to confront Orochimaru and Sasuke. Sakura was in the lead as she wished so bad to see Sasuke. But she was disappointed when she didn't see him.

"Well, well girl. I knew it wouldn't be long until you came looking for him." Orochimaru said.

"Where is he?!" Sakura yelled at him.

That's when the group heard another building collapse and more people screaming. Sakura didn't even wait for anyone to say a word, she quickly ran toward all the noise. As she got closer she had to push against the people running in the streets. It was hard going against them, but then she finally made it to the source of the noise.

She looked up to see Sasuke. He looked almost the same, he had gotten taller a couple of inches. He certainly had more muscles. But the thing that had changed the most was his eyes. They were lifeless, dull.

As Sakura studied him, the street was completely cleared. The people had already ran away from the attack. Sakura started to walk toward him. She started to smile, this was it. The one thing she had been looking for all year.

Sakura then began to jog toward him. She didn't notice how careless she was being. Sasuke's eyes didn't change as he starred her down, as she moved toward him.

He pulled out a knife from his pouch and as soon as she got close he attacked.

"AHH! Sasuke…why?"

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**Well how did you all like it? Sorry it took so long I have been busy with school and friends and stuff. But anyway please review!!**

**love ya,**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	18. Lovely Pain

**Well I thank all of you that reviewed. I really love reviews but anyway here's the next chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Lovely Pain**

Sakura fell to the ground as she had been lightly stabbed in her side. Sasuke just stood over her and starred down at her.

Sakura looked up to Sasuke. His eyes were blank.

"Sasuke….snap out of it. Don't you remember me?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura!" A voice yelled.

Sakura turned her head to see her brother running to her aid.

"Sakura, why did you try to fight him? You know you can't bring yourself to hurt him." Neji said stepping in between Sasuke and his sister.

"I just thought he might have remembered me."

"Well I'll take care of him." Neji said as he punched toward Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged it, but Neji kept coming toward him.

"No! Stop it!" Sakura called out.

"What?!" Neji asked.

"Don't hurt him! Please." Sakura then took her strength to stand up and leap to stand next to Neji.

"He's a criminal! And what he did to you…he got you pregnant."

"Is that why you want to kill him?!"

"I'm not gonna kill him, just almost kill him!" Neji said running toward him, but was stopped as his sister pulled him back.

Sasuke now took the time to escape away from them.

"Look what you did!" Neji yelled.

This did not bother Sakura at all. She was happy Sasuke had got away, she wanted to deal with him, only her. Anyone else would hurt him, and hurting him was the last option there was. But then Ino came running around the corner.

She had a few scratches on her and her hair was a bit messed up, she even looked out of breath. Sakura figured that her and the other guys had already started fighting Orochimaru.

"Neji we need you over here!!" She called.

"Of course!!" Neji bolted after her as they ran back toward the other fight. Sakura stood alone in the streets, she saw it as the perfect opportunity to chase after Sasuke.

She then heard huge explosions coming from where the others were. Sakura only hoped that her brother and the others would be okay. Orochimaru was no joke neither was Sasuke.

Sakura then headed off in the direction where Sasuke had fled. Even thought her side was stinging, it was a minor wound and she had had worse. She just ignored it and carried on looking for the man she loved. _I have come this close, there's no way he is gonna get away. _

She crossed over many streets as she traveled on the rooftops. She searched all the streets carefully. The only thing she saw was seeing were terrified people making their way out of the village to escape the fighting.

It had been 30 minutes since she had started looking and she was getting tired and her wound wasn't feeling any better. _This city is huge! There are so many streets, maybe I overlooked him. But I mean where could he have gone?_

Sakura then made it to one of the back streets of the city that was deserted. She dropped down to the ground and looked around. She heard another explosion from Neji's area.

"Maybe I should go back and help them." Sakura was about to take off, when a voice stopped her.

"Your fight is with me."

Sakura's eyes got wide. _I haven't heard that voice in over a year…_

She turned around slowly to see Sasuke standing a ways down from her, holding a knife in his hand.

"Sasuke don't you remember me?"

"Yes."

Sakura felt joy go through her veins as she let out a sigh of relief.

"You're the girl that I stabbed back over there." Sasuke said.

Sakura's joy faded. Her face went blank. She just starred at him, as if she was about to burst into tears.

"Is that the only memory you have of me?"

"What other memories should I have of you? You're not important to me."

_**xoxoxo**_

Ino and Shikamaru ran toward Orochimaru. They were planning to double team him. Shikamaru began to punch at his head, while Ino took his chest and stomach. They knocked him back a couple of feet, but it wasn't enough. Orochimaru smacked Shikamaru and sent him flying down the street.

Ino kept punching him, and managed to get him a bit off balance but then Orochimaru kicked her right in the stomach, which sent her flying as well.

"Ahhh!" Ino yelled as she was thrown into a building. She hit the ground and groaned at the pain.

Naruto then stepped up toward Orochimaru, as he began to fight him. Naruto was throwing punches as fast as he could and was doing fairly well.

"Ino are you okay?" Lee called. He was the closest one to her. Everyone else was on the other side of the street across from Orochimaru.

"I don't know. I think my arm is broken." Ino stayed on the ground as she held her broke arm in her other hand.

"You need to stay down; you're out of the fight." Lee said.

"No, they need me, we are losing with all the people we have, if I quit it will only get worse."

"I think we have somewhat weakened him, we must have, as much as we have put into this fight, everyone is giving it their all." Lee said.

Then Naruto was thrown off by Orochimaru into a building as well.

"Ino!!" Chouji yelled from across the street with Neji. Ino snapped her head up to see that Orochimaru was running toward her and Lee.

"Lee, we go to move!!" Ino said as she jumped up sprint away from him, even though her arm was hurting her.

As Ino was running away with god like speed, she heard Lee call after her, "No I can take him!"

Ino, now that she was a ways away could see Orochimaru's back, and realized Orochimaru was holding a sword behind his back where Lee couldn't see it. Her eyes widened.

"LEE!!" Ino yelled.

"AHHHH!!" Lee yelled, as Orochimaru's sword stabbed him through the heart.

_**xoxoxo**_

Sasuke's words hurt her so bad, probably the most pain she had felt in the last year, and that was a lot of pain. But she soon forgot what Sasuke said when she heard, Ino yell out, followed by Lee's.

_That's weird I thought I heard Ino yell out Lee's name and I think I heard Lee yell out like he was in pain. God I hope nothing bad happened to him. _

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Sasuke leap toward her. She saw the attack coming, but she just couldn't bring herself to counterattack him. Because the way she counterattacked, it would hurt her enemy, and she couldn't hurt Sasuke.

He sliced her with his knife. Sakura let out a low groan as the pain hit her. She backed up a couple of feet, only for him to attack her again. This time he hit her arms as she put them up to defend her heart area.

All of a sudden Sasuke stopped.

"Why won't you fight? Or can you?" His emotionless voice asked.

"I just can't."

Sasuke didn't seem to care for what she said because he shrugged it off and attacked her again. This time he cut her leg as she bent her leg to protect her stomach. Sasuke then punched her in the head and sent her back a couple of steps.

As Sakura looked at him, he smirked. He punched her in the stomach and sent her falling to the ground. He then kicked her. Sakura was now laying on the ground, even though she was in pain, she felt no hatred toward toward him, only love.

Sasuke then pulled out his knife again. He smirked at her again. He lunged forward to stab her and finish her off.

Sakura closed her eyes as she waited for the pain that would end her life. _I never thought that it would end this way…when I meet him in the streets over a year ago, he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, we then started to travel together…at first he was closed up and never talked but then he loosened up and trusted me. We began to get close and when we were at the river, we had our first kiss. And then later on, we made love and I got pregnant. And I gave birth to a boy that would never meet his father, and Sasuke was a father who would never meet his son…._

Sakura still waited but then she realized no pain had struck her. She looked up and saw Sasuke was frozen. His eyes were blank. Sakura gasped for air as she realized she was close to blacking out. She then heard it -- Orochimaru screaming at the top of his lungs.

_Is that his death cry? Did they do it? Is Orochimaru dead? Maybe Riku will meet his father after all, maybe Sasuke will met his son…_

However, Sakura blacked out. She layed on the ground and looked lifeless. As Orochimaru's scream died down, Sasuke dropped the knife in his hand. His eyes were no longer lifeless, they were full of shock. His eyes were on Sakura lying in front of him.

"What have I done?"

Sasuke sunk down to his knees and checked her pulse; he was so relieved to know she was alive. He looked her over, at all the cuts and bruises she had.

"Sakura!" A male voice came.

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto jumping down beside him. Naruto glared at Sasuke.

"You bastard! What did you do?"

"I didn't know, I wasn't myself!"

"Back away from her." Naruto's voice was hard and serious. Sasuke backed away as Naruto looked her over and saw that she was still alive, he then picked her up and was about to leave when he looked at Sasuke.

"If she didn't love you, you would be dead right now. But since you're the whole reason we came, come on." Naruto said jumping off, not checking to see if Sasuke was behind him or not.

_**xoxoxo**_

Sasuke looked around the castle as he walked down the halls. He had been given a room and for the moment he was alone. Just about everyone was with Sakura as the nurses were caring for her. He wanted to be there for her, but he didn't wanna see all the damage he had done to her.

Of course, the crew hadn't told anyone that Sasuke was the one that did that to her, they just said Orochimaru did it. If Sakura's parents knew he did that to her, they probably wouldn't let him in the castle, and that would break Sakura's heart, due to everything she has done to get him back.

Sasuke was sitting in a chair looking out a large window that overlooked the courtyard. He couldn't get over the fact that he hurt her.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke turned his head to see, a small woman. She had black hair that came past her shoulders, with white eyes. She wore a light pink dress that was almost a cream color too. He could not place who she was but she looked familiar.

"Princess Hinata?" He guessed.

"So you remember me. I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay what is it?"

"Well before I begin how about we go to a place that is more private."

Hinata lead him down the hallway to a room that was quite large and had a window that overlooked the courtyard. Sasuke studied the room.

"This is my sister's room." Hinata said as she closed the door.

"Wow." Sasuke turned to watch her close the door and noticed she wore a wedding ring.

"Your married?" Sasuke asked.

"To Naruto, yes."

"Oh, congrats."

"Thank you. But the thing I wanted to say is that, Sakura, my sister, has been my best friend all my life. She's always been there for me, and she was my only real friend I had. I always felt great when she was with me, we got along so good."

Hinata now walked toward the window, with Sasuke following her.

"But then of course you came alone and took her away, but she came back quit some time later, but she wasn't the same. She never smiled. She was depressed. She tried to act happy and faked laughs but she didn't fool me. I heard her cry herself to sleep for nights."

Hinata took her gaze from the window and starred at Sasuke.

"Sometimes I think Sakura just died, because she was so lifeless all because of you."

Sasuke felt his heart drop. He felt horrible.

"I didn't know what I was doing. Orochimaru tricked me."

"But you chose to leave her. You chose to track down your brother, even though she loved you."

"….."

"And from what I heard. When you were under Orochimaru's hold, you attacked her and even though you almost killed her, she just couldn't bring herself to lay a single bruise on you. She almost died, but she was willing to give it all up just so you wouldn't get hurt. But yet you decided to leave her in the beginning and go after your brother."

"I know I had no idea…I was so stupid."

"Now, when my sister gets better, you better treat her right. She loves you with all her heart, the only thing she wants from you is your love, and I want my sister back. You took my sister from me, that girl in the other room isn't Sakura. All I have to say is that I just hope you can bring my sister back, back to the way she used to be. And if you hurt her again, I swear I will hire every bounty hunter in this kingdom to hunt you down and kill you!"

That's when a baby started to cry. Sasuke looked around the room and hadn't even noticed the baby crib at the end of the large bed.

"Oh I woke the baby." Hinata said as she walked toward the baby's crib. She reached down and picked him up and began to rock him in her arms. She lightly hummed to him.

"Your son is cute." Sasuke said looking at him.

Hinata just looked up at him.

"Oh he's not mine. He's yours."

* * *

**I hope you all liked it. Please review!! I worked hard on this chapter so please tell me what you think. **

**Love ya**

**kikyothepriestess05**


	19. Healing the Heart

**Well sorry it took so long to update. But here we go with the next chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Healing the Heart**

Sasuke just looked at Hinata holding the baby. He then looked at the baby in her arms. The baby had green eyes, just like Sakura but the baby had his face and hair. He couldn't believe he didn't see it before that it looked just like him, other than having his mother's eyes.

"I'm serious. Don't you see it? Your face and hair, Sakura's beautiful eyes. It's all here in this baby – Sakura's baby. Your baby."

"I have a son. I-I can't believe I never knew."

"You weren't here. But now that you are here, you're staying."

"Of course, my only desire is to be with Sakura and my son. I'm not falling for anymore tricks again."

"Riku."

Sasuke just looked at Hinata confused. Without waiting for Sasuke to answer, Hinata spoke again.

"Your son's name is Riku."

"Sakura named him what I wanted?"

"Yes. She told me that you had said if you ever had son you would name him Riku and since you weren't here when he was born, she named him Riku in honor of your wishes."

"When was he born?"

"December 22nd. He's three months old."

Sasuke just starred at the baby. The baby smiled at him and held his arms out toward Sasuke.

Hinata smiled. "He wants you to hold him."

Hinata placed the baby gently in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke just starred down at the baby as Riku cuddled up to him and smiled.

"He likes you." Hinata said.

"I don't see why. I haven't even been here for him."

Riku looked at Sasuke's face.

"Dad."

Hinata and Sasuke just starred at the baby. Hinata smiled.

"His first word! Sakura must hear him, but how did he know you were his dad?"

"I have no idea. I guess he can just tell."

Riku started to talk again. "Dad. Dad."

"Yes, Riku, I'm your Dad." Sasuke smiled as he used one of his hands to grab Riku's.

"Let's go check on Sakura, shall we?" Hinata said walking past Sasuke to the door.

_**xoxoxo**_

Most of the people had cleared out of the room. They had all gone downstairs to eat. So it was just Sasuke and Hinata sitting by Sakura's bedside. Sakura was still knocked out.

"The nurse said Sakura was gonna be fine but it was be a couple of weeks for her to heal all the way up." Hinata said.

"Thank god. I can't believe I did this. Orochimaru had me under his control, if I had any idea what I was doing, I wouldn't have done this."

"I'm sure my sister understands."

Sasuke was still holding Riku in his arms. He looked down to see that his son had fallen asleep.

"You still love my sister?" Hinata asked.

"Of course, I never stopped. I never really left her, I just wanted to stop my brother then I was gonna come back, but I lost control of myself."

"My sister has been depressed ever since she came back. The only one that somewhat cheered her up was Lee. He had feelings for her and he wanted to marry her, but she only chose to wait for you."

"I had no idea. What do you mean he _had_ feelings for her? Doesn't he still have feelings for her?"

"I'm sure he would, if he was alive."

"Lee is –"

"Dead. Him and Chouji."

"Chouji too?"

"Yes, they tell me Orochimaru killed them."

"Oh my god. This is all my fault."

"No they chose to go along and help. They knew their risks."

"Yeah but I'm sure they didn't actually expect to die..."

"Stay and watch over Sakura."

Hinata got up and walked out of the room. Sasuke only looked at Sakura's sleeping form. He got up and walked closer to the bed. He looked down at Sakura. She was covered in cuts. However, she was still beautiful.

"She looks exactly the same. I'm glad." Sasuke smiled as he noticed that Riku and Sakura's faces looked almost the same when they were asleep.

That's when Sakura started to move. Her eyes started to open as she grunted from the pain caused by her moving.

"Sakura, don't move."

Sakura froze, not because of what she was told but because she hadn't expected to hear that voice. She turned to look at Sasuke.

"Sasuke….are you back to normal?"

"Yes, and I'm here for you. Just relax and heal up."

"You promise you are gonna stay this time?"

"Forever and ever, sweetheart I promise."

Sakura smiled.

"Oh and I found out that we have a kid." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, do you like his name?"

"I love it. He's beautiful, just like his mother."

Sakura smiled at the picture of Sasuke holding Riku sleeping. Sasuke leaned down and kissed Sakura.

_**xoxoxo**_

It had been about a week since things had settled down. Sakura was able to walk around but she was still sore.

Sakura walked into Tenten's room. She smiled as she saw Tenten resting in her bed.

Tenten opened her eyes as she heard the door open and close.

"Hey, how are you?" Sakura asked.

"Still sore, but what about you? Are you doing okay?"

Sakura smiled, and sat on the side of Tenten's bed. Tenten had just had her baby the day before.

"Yeah I'm fine, still sore but I'm healing up."

"I'm glad you got Sasuke back."

"Me too. So have you named her yet?"

Tenten smiled. "Yes. Neji and I named her Dai."

"That's really pretty, Tenten. I'm so happy for you and Neji."

"Yeah, this means you're an aunt now and Riku has a little cousin."

"Yeah. Now Hinata needs to have a kid."

"Her time will come."

That's when the door opened and closed. Neji came in holding the newborn baby.

"Well, she's had her fresh air for the day, here Tenten you take care of her for a while, she cries too much."

Neji handed the baby over to his wife. Tenten held the baby in her arms.

"She's smiling. She likes you Neji." Tenten said.

"She better like me, I'm her dad. And Sakura I have to give you credit trying to keep a baby quiet is a lot harder than I thought."

"Yeah so you need to say your sorry for telling me to keep Riku quiet all those nights when he woke up." Sakura said smiling.

"Yeah whatever." Neji said to his sister.

"But anyway, speaking of fresh air I think I'm going to find Riku and take him outside with me, I'll check back with you later Tenten. If you need any help with the baby, just ask." Sakura said standing up.

"Don't worry I'll send Neji for you when I need you." Tenten said smiling.

"Alright." With that, Sakura walked to the door and walked out of the room.

_**xoxoxo**_

It was a sunny day, and Sakura was sitting outside under her favorite cherry blossom tree, the one she had sat under so many times when she was younger. Riku was sitting in the grass not far from his mother playing with some of his toys.

Sakura wore a light purple kimono with white flowers on it. The slash that went around her waist was pure white. She wore a light purple tie in her hair.

She was looking out across the courtyard when her eyes fell on two graves. Lee and Chouji. In honor of them Sakura wanted them to be buried in the courtyard instead of just some old cemetery. Their funeral had been about two days after the remaining group had gotten back.

Sakura felt a tear fall from her eye. She hadn't know Chouji too good, but she was still upset because she felt as if it were her fault. She had asked him to come when it was none of his business.

But then there was Lee. She was going to miss him so much. Sure, she did not love him but she did have small feelings for him. He had been there for her for the past year. He was the only one who had been able to somewhat cheer her up. He cared for Riku and was kind of like Riku's second father.

_I only wish I could have been with him in his last moments._

Ino had been with Lee in his last moments. The others were fighting Orochimaru. He had told Ino to tell Sakura that he loved her. Sakura cried when Ino had delivered his message. Ino and Shikamaru were the most upset about Chouji. But they didn't blame anybody for his death. They were just happy no one else died.

"There you are."

Sakura looked up to see Sasuke walking toward her. He smiled at her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Good. Have you seen Neji and Tenten's baby?"

"Yeah, she's cute. But not as cute as our boy." Sasuke looked at Riku playing in the grass.

Sakura stood up to stand next to Sasuke. She smiled as she realized something.

"Do you know that this is where you were standing when I saw you from my bedroom window? That night when you came back for me? Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember. I also remember that you looked so beautiful that night standing on that balcony looking out of your window."

Sakura smiled as he kissed her. "Then maybe this is the right spot to ask you to something." Sasuke said.

"What?"

"Since you already have my ring," Sasuke said holding Sakura's hand touching the ring he had gave her a long time ago, "If you would marry me."

Sakura just stared at him in shock. She looked him in the eye and said, "You know what my answer is, you shouldn't even have to ask."

"Yeah but I just want to hear you say it."

"Then yes, I would love to marry you."

**The End**

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**Epilogue **

**Sasuke&Sakura: **Of course married and had two more children. Another boy named Kenji and the youngest was a girl named Yuna. Sakura was the heir to the throne to rule but her and Sasuke decided to leave the palace and live like regular people, like Sakura said, she wasn't cut out for the whole princess life. Therefore, Hinata and Naruto ruled the kingdom.

**Naruto&Hinata: **Took over the kingdom and had four children. The first was a boy named Sora. The rest were three girls, Ayame, Cho, and the youngest was Hitomi who happened to take an interest in ninjas and had no desire to be a princess. So Hitomi ended up moving out of the palace at age 13 and lived with her Aunt Sakura and Uncle Sasuke. There they trained her and she became a ninja. Naruto and Hinata didn't care she moved out as long as she came to visit a lot. They supported her choice. Hinata only said she got the genes from Sakura and Misao (Sakura's and Hinata's mom.).

**Neji&Tenten: **Returned to their ninja lives and settled in a small town to raise their daughter, Dai. They then had another child, a boy, named Naoki.

**Shikamaru&Ino: **Were married and continued to wander from place to place. They never really settled down in one town. They never had kids and were happier without them because then they wouldn't be able to enjoy their love of traveling. They traveled to most of the world and came to visit the Sasuke and the others once every couple of years.

* * *

**Well that's it. I hope you all liked it!! Please review!**

**love ya,**

**kikyothepriestess05**


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